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The Toronto Arrows can put the heat on their Eastern Conference rivals for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference if they can beat the SaberCats in Houston on Saturday night. New York will host the Free Jacks in a pivotal match on Sunday, with ATL heading to San Diego.
Back-to-back wins at home have put the Arrows level on points with New York and technically in front on scoring differential, but the latter has a game at hand. This is one of only two road games left in Toronto’s regular season and a win would be a huge boost in confidence heading into the stretch.
Key players are likely to return from injury after the bye next weekend but for now it’s Gastón Mieres who is back, albeit on the bench. The backline is otherwise unchanged from the group that put 53 points on New Orleans last weekend.
Up front there is a blow with Kyle Baillie again sidelined, though his week-to-week prognosis suggests it won’t be a long-term absence. James O’Neill returns to the starting lineup in his stead with Adrian Wadden summoned among the reserves to provide second row cover.
The SaberCats are themselves in the middle of a playoff race in the Western Conference. A close loss the Giltinis in LA sees them two points back of San Diego for third spot. With only three home games left on their schedule this is close to must-win territory for Houston.
To get a positive result, however, they’ll have to do so without three players that started against LA. Fullback Robbie Povey suffered a knee injury in the opening minute of that match. He is joined on the disabled list by flyhalf Davey Coetzer and star flanker Danny Barrett.
Zach Pangelinan gets the No15 shirt with Kian Meadon wearing No10 for the first time this season after returning from a month-long loan to Rugby ATL. Malon Al-Jiboori is fit to take up a spot in the match day squad but he’ll start from the bench with Wynand Grassmann instead switching from the second row to the side of the scrum.
The difference in style here are considerable. Houston kept things tight against LA and with effectively four locks in the starting pack one can expect them to stick closely to that script. Toronto mixed up their attack against NOLA and can venture a little wider given a clear advantage at the breakdown via Rumball and O’Neill. The Arrows have never lost to Houston and that trend looks set to continue on Saturday.
Kickoff is set for 7pm local time, 5pm Pacific, 8pm Eastern. A local broadcast will be available on AT&T SportsNet Southwest in Houston, while Canadian viewers can watch on TSN’s digital services. The Rugby Network will stream live to those across the USA and abroad.
HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Alec McDonnell, 2 Dean Muir (capt.), 3 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 4 Marno Redelinghuys, 5 Siaosi Mahoni, 6 Wynand Grassmann, 7 Keni Nasoqeqe, 8 Jaco Bezuidenhout, 9 Dillon Smit, 10 Kian Meadon, 11 Gerrie Labuschagne, 12 Louritz van der Schyff, 13 Christian Dyer, 14 Matai Leuta, 15 Zach Pangelinan
Replacements: 16 Diego Fortuny, 17 Frikkie de Beer, 18 Pono Davis, 19 Will Crawford, 20 Emmanuel Albert, 21 Zachary Short, 22 Malon Al-Jiboori, 23 Trace Bolstad
TORONTO ARROWS
1 Cole Keith, 2 Andrew Quattrin, 3 Isaac Salmon, 4 Mike Sheppard (capt.), 5 Paul Ciulini, 6 Lucas Rumball, 7 James O’Neill, 8 Ronan Foley, 9 Riley DiNardo, 10 Sam Malcolm, 11 Mitch Richardson, 12 Ueta Tufuga, 13 Spencer Jones, 14 Johnny Sheridan, 15 Mitch Voralek
Replacements: 16 Jack McRogers, 17 Lolani Faleiva, 18 Tyler Rowland, 19 Adrian Wadden, 20 Siaki Vikilani, 21 Gordon McRorie, 22 Guiseppe du Toit, 23 Gastón Mieres
Date: Saturday, April 23
Venue: AVEVA Stadium, Houston
Kickoff: 19:00 local (17:00 Pacific, 20:00 Eastern)
Referee: Jack Gohl (Australia)
Assistants: Kat Roche (USA) & Mitch Damm (USA)
TMO: Davey Ardrey (USA)
Broadcasts: AT&T SportsNet Southwest, The Rugby Network, TSN.ca
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2021-05-15 – Houston SaberCats 10, Toronto Arrows 19 (AVEVA Stadium)
2020-02-16 – Toronto Arrows 27, Houston SaberCats 22 (Sam Boyd Stadium)
2019-04-21 – Toronto Arrows 35, Houston SaberCats 21 (York Alumni Field)
2019-02-22 – Houston SaberCats 27, Toronto Arrows 44 (Constellation Field)
