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The Houston SaberCats can take another step towards a first-ever playoff appearance if they can beat Utah at AVEVA Stadium on Saturday. It won’t be easy, however, with the Warriors showing they still have life with a rousing victory over Rugby ATL last weekend.
Lance Williams was the star of the show for Utah and the result snapped a six-game losing streak. The Warriors are out of the running for the postseason but they can still play spoilers and will have that in mind when they hit the ground in Texas.
It could well be argued, in fact, that the loss at home to Houston in March was the telling blow in their hopes of another playoff appearance. One week later Shawn Pittman was gone as Head Coach but the losses kept piling up. With four games left in the season the Warriors are aiming to finish on a high note.
There are no changes at all to Utah’s match day 23 this week, while the SaberCats have opted for just one alteration. Robbie Povey returns from injury to take up a spot on the bench. It reverts to a conventional 5/3 split this week with on-loan lock Javon Camp dropping out of the lineup.
Houston were equally impressive last week with arguably their best win of the season in San Diego. They have won two in a row but aside from a poor performance in Austin, the SaberCats have been competitive in every outing this season.
The forecast is predicting a warm evening and combined with both Houston’s new-found success and the World Cup announcement should result in a strong crowd at AVEVA Stadium. That said Utah were winners there last season so will not be overly intimidated. If the Cats are as clinical as they were last week the Warriors pack could be in for a hard day. Take the home side but the visitors will make it interesting.
Kickoff is set for 7pm local time, 5pm Pacific, 6pm Mountain, 8pm Eastern. Local broadcasts will be available on KJZZ and KSL Sports online in Utah, with AT&T SportsNet Southwest airing the game on delay. The Rugby Network will stream live to viewers elsewhere in the USA and abroad.
HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Alec McDonnell, 2 Dean Muir (capt.), 3 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 4 Marno Redelinghuys, 5 Siaosi Mahoni, 6 Gideon van Wyk, 7 Keni Nasoqeqe, 8 Malon Al-Jiboori, 9 Dillon Smit, 10 David Coetzer, 11 Marcell Muller, 12 Louritz van der Schyff, 13 Christian Dyer, 14 Matai Leuta, 15 Kian Meadon
Replacements: 16 Diego Fortuny, 17 Frikkie de Beer, 18 Aaron Mitchell, 19 Will Crawford, 20 Emmanuel Albert, 21 Nick Boyer, 22 Zach Pangelinan, 23 Robbie Povey
UTAH WARRIORS
1 Emerson Prior, 2 Chad Gough, 3 Angus MacLellan, 4 Saia Uhila, 5 Jurie van Vuuren, 6 Thomas Tu’avao, 7 Bailey Wilson (capt.), 8 Lance Williams, 9 Zion Going, 10 Caleb Makene, 11 Mika Kruse, 12 Tomasi Tonga, 13 Calvin Whiting, 14 Joe Mano, 15 Cliven Loubser
Replacements: 16 Joey Backe, 17 Tuvere Vugakoto, 18 Paul Mullen, 19 Puna Vuli, 20 Mike Gieselman, 21 Danny Christensen, 22 Tyler Fisher, 23 Mike Te’o
Date: Saturday, May 14
Venue: AVEVA Stadium, Houston
Kickoff: 19:00 local (17:00 Pacific, 18:00 Mountain, 20:00 Eastern)
Referee: Scott Green (USA)
Assistants: Andrew Low (USA) & Brian Dusablon (USA)
TMO: Luke Rogan (USA)
Broadcasts: AT&T SportsNet Southwest (delayed), KJZZ, KSL Sports, The Rugby Network
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2022-03-26 – Utah Warriors 12, Houston SaberCats 28 (Zions Bank Stadium)
2021-06-26 – Houston SaberCats 5, Utah Warriors 24 (AVEVA Stadium)
2021-04-24 – Utah Warriors 50, Houston SaberCats 43 (Zions Bank Stadium)
2019-06-01 – Utah Warriors 27, Houston SaberCats 31 (Zions Bank Stadium)
2019-03-21 – Houston SaberCats 29, Utah Warriors 27 (Constellation Field)
2018-06-23 – Utah Warriors 31, Houston SaberCats 27 (Zions Bank Stadium)
2018-05-26 – Houston SaberCats 30, Utah Warriors 36 (Dyer Stadium)
