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The Houston SaberCats made it two wins a row for the first time in franchise history as they took the all-Texas derby by a convincing 36-15 over Austin Elite on Saturday. It pushes Houston ahead of Utah into 7th place while Austin continue to stare down the barrel of a winless campaign.
From the outset the resurgent SaberCats looked the dominant side. Their powerful ball carriers Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz and Thretton Palamo consistently put them on the front foot, with the pair grabbing two tries each on the day.
The first came from their big No8, a late replacement before kickoff for Alejandro Nieto. Austin fumbled the ball inside their own 22 and Diego Magno quickly snapped it off the deck and popped the ball to Fa’anana-Schultz for an easy finish.
Within a couple minutes the SaberCats were in again. Sam Windsor went through a half-gap and offloaded to Palamo, who stepped two cover defenders and sped away for the try. Andrés Vilaseca sent over a penalty goal to get Austin on the board but Houston still had two tries in them before halftime.
Despite being down a man after Pat O’Toole was sent to the bin, it was Fa’anana-Schultz who crossed next as he hit the line flat and sold an exaggerated dummy to Zinzan Elan-Puttick to skip over for his second. Cecil Garber was next to grab glory. Austin turned the ball over the flanker ran through a huge hole and sprinted 40 meters for the score.
Austin began to ring the changes early after the intermission and finally got a try soon after. A couple penalties put them into an attacking position and LaRome White drove over with the help of two teammates to score the try.
Just as it looked as though the Elite were gaining momentum a turnover cost them dearly. Fa’anana-Schultz bulldozed through on a counter-ruck and Malacchi Esdale was there to collect, the winger showing his searing pace with a 60 meter sprint untouched to the corner.
An intercept try from Vilaseca would give Austin a dash of good news but only temporarily. Before the clock ran out Fa’anana-Schultz was at it again, tearing off the back of a scrum and nearly making the line himself only to pop it up to a supporting Palamo to end the game.
Houston will need to keep the celebrating to a minimum as they are back at it on Wednesday evening for a make-up clash against the Glendale Raptors. Austin have one last chance to find a win and it will be on the road against the Seattle Seawolves next Sunday.
SCORING
HOUSTON 36
Tries – J. Fa’anana-Schultz 2 (13’, 31’), T. Palamo 2 (16’, 79’), C. Garber (34’), M. Esdale (56’)
Cons – S. Windsor 2/5 (14’, 32’), O. Kolinisau 1/1 (80’)
Yellow cards – P. O’Toole (28’)
AUSTIN 15
Tries – L. White (47’), A. Vilaseca (75’)
Cons – A. Vilaseca 0/1, S. Jaoudat 1/1 (76′)
Pens – A. Vilaseca 1/2 (20’)
TEAMS
HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Mateo Sanguinetti (17 Jake Turnbull 70′), 2 Pat O’Toole (16 Amro Gouda 58′), 3 Paul Mullen (18 Charlie Connolly 58’), 4 Diego Magno (20 Robert Meeson 66’), 5 Matt Trouville (capt.) (19 Victor Comptat 63’), 6 Luke Beauchamp (22 Chris Coyle 73’), 7 Cecil Garber, 8 Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz, 9 Zach Pangelinan (21 Chris Saint 57’), 10 Sam Windsor (23 Kieran Farmer 70’), 11 Deion Mikesell (16 Amro Gouda 29’-38’), 12 Thretton Palamo, 13 Josua Vici, 14 Malacchi Esdale, 15 Osea Kolinisau
AUSTIN ELITE
1 Sunao Takizawa (18 LaRome White 47’), 2 Peter Malcolm (16 Tiaan Erasmus 58’), 3 Mason Pedersen (17 Juan Echeverría 53’), 4 Ben Mitchell (capt.), 5 Josh Larsen, 6 Travis Larsen (20 Kyle Breytenbach 63’), 7 Dom Bailey (19 Dylan Pieterse 64’), 8 Rikus Zwart (21 Moe Abdelmonem 47’), 9 Soheyl Jaoudat, 10 Rodrigo Silva, 11 Sione Fangaiuiha, 12 Andrew Suniula (23 Aidan McMullan 53’), 13 Andrés Vilaseca, 14 Reece Czarnecki (22 Alex Faison-Donahoe 49’), 15 Zinzan Elan-Puttick
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Luke Rogan (USAR)
Assistants: Scott Green (USAR) & Butch Neuenschwander (USAR)
