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The Houston SaberCats cruised to a 31-7 bonus point win over Old Glory DC on Friday night to take another step towards a spot in the postseason. It means the Utah Warriors will need to win at the bare minimum against Chicago on Saturday to stay alive.
Fans were still finding their seats when the SaberCats struck for their first try. Marno Redelinghuys tapped back the restart and Drew Wild quickly fired a grubber in behind the DC defense. Christian Dyer won the race and needed only to fall over the line for five points.
Dyer would get himself a double before long. Dean Muir won a penalty at the breakdown and DC were again pinned deep in their end. The Houston pack sucked in Old Glory’s defense and left Dyer wide open out wide to take a bounce pass from Vereniki Tikoisolomone into the right corner. Davy Coetzer curled in the extras from the sideline to make it 12-nil to the home side.
The two teams then exchanged tries in rapid succession. Old Glory’s first attacking opportunity yielded seven points when a driving maul was collapsed. Gideon van Wyk was singled out as the culprit and sent to the bin as the penalty try was awarded.
Despite having only seven forwards, the Cats came roaring back and after the pack softened up the DC defense Coetzer crashed over for the try. His conversion attempt was pushed wide right of the posts. Both teams would have chances but the 17-7 score would hold to halftime.
Wynand Grassmann smashed over from close range for the bonus point try, but then there was bad news for the SaberCats. A heavy clearout from Danny Barrett on Danny Tusitala came to the attention of the TMO, who determined a red card was the appropriate sanction. Barrett now faces a meeting with the judiciary who will decide whether the call was correct.
The card had no impact on the result or the scoreboard. A late attack from DC was foiled when a pass of the deck from Niko Jones was snagged by Dom Akina. One quick pass to Tikoisolomone was all that was needed with the Fijian sprinting 80 meters untouched to score the try. Robbie Povey added the extras to bring on the final whistle.
Houston now await the result of Utah’s game to learn what their target is for their away match against New England next Sunday. Old Glory will similarly watch New York’s game in Atlanta, knowing ATL are their opponents in the nation’s capital next Saturday.
SCORING
HOUSTON 31
Tries (5) – C. Dyer 2 (1′, 8′), D. Coetzer (17′), W. Grassmann (57′), V. Tikoisolomone (79′)
Cons (3) – D. Coetzer 2/4 (9′, 58′), R. Povey 1/1 (80′)
YC (1) – G. van Wyk (12′)
RC (1) – D. Barrett (65′)
DC 7
Tries (1) – Penalty try (12′)
Cons (1) – No kick (12′)
TEAMS
HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Rob Cobb (17 Alec McDonnell 50′), 2 Dean Muir (capt.) (16 Axel Zapata 61′), 3 Joe Taufete’e (18 Pono Davis 38′), 4 Siaosi Mahoni (19 Emmanuel Albert 48′), 5 Marno Redelinghuys, 6 Wynand Grassmann (20 Keni Nasoqeqe 61′), 7 Malon Al-Jiboori (22 Danny Barrett 48′), 8 Gideon van Wyk, 9 Dillon Smit, 10 Davy Coetzer (23 Robbie Povey 77′), 11 Vereniki Tikoisolomone, 12 Louritz van der Schyff, 13 Dom Akina, 14 Christian Dyer (21 Carlo de Nysschen 36′), 15 Drew Wild
OLD GLORY DC
1 Cali Martinez (18 Kyle Stewart 54′), 2 KoiKoi Nelligan (16 Nic Souchon 48′), 3 Quentin Newcomer (17 Jack Iscaro 48′), 4 Tevita Naqali (20 Api Naikatini 66′), 5 Collin Grosse, 6 Niko Jones, 7 Alejo Daireaux, 8 Langilangi Haupeakui (19 Fintan Coleman 56′), 9 John LeFevre, 10 Joaquín Díaz Bonilla (23 Mike Weir HT), 11 Junior Sa’u, 12 Doug Fraser (capt.), 13 Marcos Young (22 Thretton Palamo 5′), 14 John Rizzo, 15 Owen Sheehy (21 Danny Tusitala 50′)
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Joe James (England)
Assistants: Blair McClure (USA) & Jono Cooper (USA)
TMO: Greg Gilliam (USA)
