Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
The defending champions are rolling again, and it’s Houston who are next in line. Four wins on the trot have propelled the Giltinis past the SaberCats into second place in the Western Conference. LA are now within striking range of Austin, who hold a four-point lead heading into the weekend.
It was the SaberCats who sprung a trap for the Giltinis in the opening week of the season, taking a shock win at AVEVA Stadium. Houston have had mixed results since but with three wins in their last four games they sit just one point back of San Diego for the third playoff spot.
Pote Human has kept the faith with the team that overwhelmed the Jackals last weekend with an identical starting lineup. The only changes to the match day squad come on the bench.
Diego Fortuny returns in place of Axel Zapata as reserve hooker, with Aaron Mitchell providing tighthead prop cover behind Juan Pablo Zeiss. It’s a 6-2 split with Eagles lock Siaosi Mahoni returning from injury and Trace Bolstad dropping out after making his MLR debut against Dallas.
It’s a similar approach from Stephen Hoiles, who has opted for two changes to the run-on side. Andrew Tuala is in at loosehead prop with Djustice Sears-Duru rotating to the bench. Ryan James is a straight swap for Adam Channel on the left wing.
While this is a much stronger SaberCats side than the one who was crushed at the Coliseum last June, the one-sided loss to Austin earlier this month was concerning. By contrast the Giltinis have improved significantly since the opening week and last week’s thunderous win over New York was a reminder that they are still among MLR’s elite. Take the home side to win comfortably.
Kickoff is set for 3pm local time, 5pm Central, 6pm Eastern. A local broadcast will be available on Bally Sports SoCal with The Rugby Network streaming worldwide. AT&T SportsNet Southwest will air the game on delay for viewers in Houston.
LA GILTINIS
1 Andrew Tuala, 2 Joe Taufete’e, 3 Charlie Abel, 4 Luke White, 5 Dave Dennis (capt.), 6 Nathan Den Hoedt, 7 Christian Poidevin, 8 Hanco Germishuys, 9 Harrison Goddard, 10 Orene Ai’i, 11 Ryan James, 12 Bill Meakes, 13 Ben LeSage, 14 John Ryberg, 15 Jordan Trainor
Replacements: 16 Lindsey Stevens, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Marco Fepulea’i, 19 Corey Thomas, 20 Cyrille Cama, 21 Tas Smith, 22 Luke Burton, 23 Tom Mitchell
HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Alec McDonnell, 2 Dean Muir (capt.), 3 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 4 Marno Redelinghuys, 5 Wynand Grassmann, 6 Danny Barrett, 7 Keni Nasoqeqe, 8 Jaco Bezuidenhout, 9 Dillon Smit, 10 David Coetzer, 11 Gerrie Labuschagne, 12 Louritz van der Schyff, 13 Christian Dyer, 14 Matai Leuta, 15 Robbie Povey
Replacements: 16 Diego Fortuny, 17 Frikkie de Beer, 18 Aaron Mitchell, 19 Will Crawford, 20 Emmanuel Albert, 21 Nick Boyer, 22 Zach Pangelinan, 23 Siaosi Mahoni
Date: Saturday, April 16
Venue: Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles
Kickoff: 15:00 local (17:00 Central, 18:00 Eastern)
Referee: Luke Rogan (USA)
Assistants: Austin Reed (USA) & Tim Lew (USA)
TMO: Jack Gohl (Australia)
Broadcasts: AT&T SportsNet Southwest (delayed), Bally Sports SoCal, The Rugby Network
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2022-02-05 – Houston SaberCats 21, LA Giltinis 11 (AVEVA Stadium)
2021-06-13 – LA Giltinis 52, Houston SaberCats 5 (Memorial Coliseum)
2021-04-17 – Houston SaberCats 33, LA Giltinis 48 (AVEVA Stadium)
