Austin retains Texas Cup with second half surge in Houston

The Texas Cup will spend the rest of the year in Austin as the Gilgronis defeated the Houston SaberCats 28-9 at AVEVA Stadium on Saturday evening. It was a sluggish match that needed a second wind from the visitors to pull away in the final quarter.

After a stagnant opening period Austin came closest to scoring just ahead of the hydration break. The SaberCats defense stayed strong, however, forcing a knock-on to stop one advance and holding up a driving maul just short to halt another.

At last the deadlock broke in the 27th minute. Pele Cowley’s looping pass found Bryce Campbell in space. The captain fed Conner Mooneyham back on his inside, who in turn offloaded to Kurt Morath for a simple run-in under the posts.

With time winding down in the half Houston finally got a chance to score. They won a penalty just to the right of the sticks and opted for the safety of three points from Sam Windsor. The score stood a conservative 7-3 to the visitors after 40 minutes.

Dominic Akina found himself in the sin bin for a late tackle on Paula Balekana early in the second half. Windsor landed his second penalty soon after, but just as quickly the AG’s fired back. Zinzan Elan-Puttick slipped through a half-gap and connected with Campbell, who this time found Maclean Jones in close support for a seven-point finish.

Akina had no sooner returned to the pitch when Austin were again reduced to 14, this time losing Sebastian de Chaves for cynical play at the breakdown. A third Windsor penalty reduced the gap to five as the two sides grabbed a quick breather.

When the two sides were ready to resume, again it was the shorthanded AG’s who pressed the action. Akina slipped two tackles and ripped through the line. A try looked a certainty but for a desperation tackle from Windsor, now playing fullback.

Houston cleared their lines but soon found themselves down a man as Jérémy Lenaerts saw yellow for a swinging arm at a maul. Within seconds the SaberCats defense splintered at another maul and Cam Dodson went over for the try. Kurt Morath’s conversion made it a 12-point game.

The final say would go to the AG’s. Two successive scrum penalties won territory, and then Jamie Mackintosh slammed over from close range to secure the bonus point. Morath’s kick split the posts and the whistle sounded for full-time.

Austin will head home to take on the Toronto Arrows at Bold Stadium next Saturday night. Houston are on the road to face the mighty LA Giltinis at the Memorial Coliseum on Sunday evening.

SCORING

HOUSTON 9
Pens – S. Windsor 3/3 (39’, 49′, 62′)
Yellow cards – J. Lenaerts (69′)

AUSTIN 28
Tries – K. Morath (27’), M. Jones (51′), C. Dodson (69′), J. Mackintosh (80′)
Cons – No kick 2 (27’, 51′), K. Morath 2/2 (70′, 80′)
Yellow cards – D. Akina (45′), S. de Chaves (57′)

TEAMS

HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Nicolás Solveyra (17 Liam Murray 65′), 2 Mike Brown (18 Patrick Donovan 54′-73′), 3 Nikoloz Khatiashvili (16 Nik Hildebrand 71′), 4 Kody O’Neil (19 Jérémy Lenaerts 52′), 5 Lucas Albornoz (20 Adriaan Booysen 64′), 6 Luke Beauchamp (capt.), 7 Cecil Garber, 8 Diego Magno, 9 Nick Boyer (21 Jinho Mun 74′), 10 Sam Windsor, 11 Veramu Dikidikilati, 12 Taylor Howden (23 Jake Hidalgo 67′), 13 Joe Thomas, 14 Paula Balekana, 15 Zach Pangelinan (22 Robbie Povey HT)

AUSTIN GILGRONIS
1 LaRome White (17 Jamie Mackintosh 56′), 2 Robbie Coetzee (16 Mason Koch 64′-73′), 3 Mason Pedersen (18 Paddy Ryan 47′), 4 Sebastian de Chaves (20 Christian Ostberg 75′), 5 Cam Dodson, 6 Kyle Breytenbach (19 Reegan O’Gorman 62′), 7 Maclean Jones, 8 Dominic Akina, 9 Pele Cowley (21 Ruben de Haas 52′), 10 Kurt Morath, 11 Conner Mooneyham, 12 Bryce Campbell (capt.), 13 Frank Halai (23 Rodrick Waters 71′), 14 Cole Davis, 15 Zinzan Elan-Puttick (22 Mack Mason 59′)

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Jack Gohl (Australia)
Assistants: Joey Swatzell (USA) & Jarrod Ford (USA)