Houston survives brutal Texas derby against Dallas

The Houston SaberCats survived a stern test in their Texas derby against Dallas to come away with a 33-21 result on Saturday evening. It was a tense encounter from the start with off-the-ball scuffles and brutal physicality from both sides. Ultimately the Jackals left without a bonus point but the result was still in doubt well past the 70-minute mark.

It was a methodical opening for Houston, who slowly worked their way towards the Dallas line. Vereniki Tikoisolomone came looking for work on the right side of the pitch and made ground, and then the pressure stayed on until Carlo de Nysschen snuck through off the side of a ruck. Davy Coetzer’s conversion made it a full seven.

A series of penalties allowed the Jackals to create an immediate response. Martín Elías turned down the sticks and punched the ball into the corner. After several phases Sam Golla took a pass from Juan Imhoff and bowled through the challenge of Dom Akina, taking two defenders on his back as he grounded the ball. Elias knocked over the extras to level the scores.

The Jackals had barely finished celebrating when the SaberCats appeared to strike for a second time. A high ball from Drew Wild bounced off the shoulder of Christian Dyer into the waiting arms of Gideon van Wyk, who raced free. On review, however, the ball was ruled forward and the try came off the board. van Wyk took matter into his own hands when his pack stole the ensuing scrum against the head, breaking to the short side and this time there was no calling it back.

Dallas again came up with a response before long. Elías launched an up-and-under from a free kick and Jerónimo Gómez Vara tapped it back. James Vaifale took it close to the line, and then Kyle Steeves was stopped just millimeters short. Adriaan Booysen had only to fall over the line to get the credit for the try, with the kick from Elías making it 14-all.

The pendulum swing back to the SaberCats. Nathan Den Hoedt charged down a clearance attempt by Pedro Imhoff from the restart. Houston won a penalty at the next scrum, and a tap play ended with Rob Cobb grounding the ball on the line. Again a review would erase the try, and this time dire consequences followed. van Wyk was spotted making a head-on-head clearout of Tomás Baravalle and the result was a red card for the No8.

Both props were changed by Dallas before halftime, and Conrado Roura was summoned at the break to add impetus. The cavalry delivered and the Jackals came flying out of the gates. Roura won the restart and Booysen charged up field. Alejandro Torres cut an inside angle to the 5-meter line, and at was the skipper Gómez Vara who punched in under the posts as the visitors took their first lead of the game.

Discipline continued to be an issue for both sides and soon the referee lost his patience with Dallas. Roura was singled out for an offside with Houston in scoring position and the flanker was issued a yellow card to bring both teams down to 14 men temporarily. With the packs now even, there was no stopping the SaberCats from driving in off a lineout with Dean Muir getting the credit. Coetzer’s kick from wide out made it a tie for the third time.

Tomi Agbongbon came on for his debut as van Wyk’s replacement. Wild just beat a streaking Vaifale to a ball in goal after JP Aguirre had fired a grubber in behind the defense. From the drop-out, Torres attempted a long-range drop goal that had the legs but not the direction.

More fresh legs entered for Houston at the hour mark and they home side almost scored but the ball slipped forward from Louritz van der Schyff just as he was attempting to slide in under the posts. A legitimate score finally came after Dyer plucked a Nick Boyer box kick from the air. Akina poked a grubber through for Wild, and then Tikoisolomone curled into the corner for the finish.

Coetzer couldn’t find the uprights this time but it was successive chips ahead from the flyhalf that had Houston straight back into scoring position. Axel Zapata smashed ahead and then Emmanuel Albert lost control as he attempted to ground it for another missed opportunity. Wild attempted his own speculate drop goal but it veered badly off target.

Zach Pangelinan replaced Tikoisolomone and the SaberCats veteran got a chance to make an impact on a breakout from his own end. The winger put boot to ball at halfway and it was Coetzer on his inside who won the race, toeing it ahead before grounding it in-goal to end all hopes of a comeback for the visitors.

Next Saturday will see the Jackals returning home to face off against the NOLA Gold. The SaberCats will head east to play the New York Ironworkers on Sunday.

 

SCORING

HOUSTON 33
Tries (5) – C. de Nysschen (9′), G. van Wyk (21′), D. Muir (49′), V. Tikoisolomone (68′), D. Coetzer (77′)
Cons (4) – D. Coetzer 4/5 (10′, 22′, 50′, 78′)
DG (0) – D. Wild 0/1
RC (1) – G. van Wyk (31′)

DALLAS 21
Tries (3) – S. Golla (16′), A. Booysen (27′), J. Gómez Vara (41′)
Cons (3) – M. Elías 2/2 (17′, 28′), No kick (41′)
DG (0) – A. Torres 0/1
YC (1) – C. Roura (48′)

 

TEAMS

HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Rob Cobb (17 Alec McDonnell 60′), 2 Dean Muir (capt.) (16 Axel Zapata 60′), 3 Morgan Mitchell (18 Pono Davis 50′), 4 Siaosi Mahoni (23 Emmanuel Albert 53′), 5 Nathan Den Hoedt, 6 Marno Redelinghuys, 7 Danny Barrett (20 Asa Carter 60′), 8 Gideon van Wyk (19 Tomiwa Agbongbon 51′), 9 Carlo de Nysschen (21 Nick Boyer 55′), 10 Davy Coetzer, 11 Vereniki Tikoisolomone (22 Zach Pangelinan 75′), 12 Louritz van der Schyff, 13 Dom Akina, 14 Christian Dyer, 15 Drew Wild

DALLAS JACKALS
1 Liam Murray (16 Nicolás Revol 23′), 2 Tomás Baravalle (17 Dewald Kotze 50′), 3 Kyle Steeves (18 Juan Pablo Zeiss 31′), 4 Lucas Bur, 5 Matt Gordon (20 Conrado Roura HT), 6 Jerónimo Gómez Vara (capt.) (19 Carson Shoemaker 75′), 7 Sam Golla, 8 Adriaan Booysen, 9 Pedro Imhoff (21 Danny Christensen 79′), 10 Martín Elías, 11 James Vaifale (23 Aaron Gray 69′), 12 Juan Pablo Aguirre (22 Campbell Johnstone 69′), 13 Tomás Malanos, 14 Lui Sitama, 15 Alejandro Torres

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Damián Schneider (Argentina)
Assistants: Justin Hale (USA) & Blair McClure (USA)
TMO: Scott Green (USA)