San Diego pulls away from Houston after wild first half

The San Diego Legion secured a 31-20 win over the Houston SaberCats at a chilly AVEVA Stadium on Saturday evening. A back-and-forth first half saw the home side holding a slender lead, but the visitors took control in the second half to score 13 unanswered points.

It was a nightmare start for the SaberCats. Will Hooley’s dabbed a chip kick just behind the defensive line for Bjorn Basson to regather. The winger stepped past two players before offloading to Thomas Morani, who in turn popped off the deck to Ben Grant for the finish inside the opening minute. Pietersen expertly curled the sideline conversion to make it a full seven.

Houston regrouped under the posts and settled into the game. They pushed San Diego back to their goal line and then a quick-tap from Dillon Smit caught the defense unprepared. Christian Dyer was there to take the pop pass and blast his way over the line. David Coetzer’s conversion ricocheted off the left upright and over the bar to draw the scores level.

San Diego’s defense was asleep at the wheel when Houston scored their second. Jaco Bezuidenhout picked to the left side from a scrum and Nate Augspurger was there to pounce, dislodging the ball in the tackle. It was Jax Hidalgo who was there to snatch it up and speed home as his opponents stood flat-footed, seemingly assuming the ball had been knocked on.

The Legion won the restart and shortly after Pietersen knocked over a penalty goal. On the other side of the hydration break another Hooley chip ahead was fumbled by the SaberCats backline and Morani roped it out of the air. The outside center stepped on the accelerator and won a 60-meter sprint to the line. Pietersen couldn’t convert but San Diego were back in the lead.

Ma’a Nonu found himself in trouble for a shoulder charge on Matai Leuta. As Nonu trudged off to the sin bin, Coetzer took three points and the lead changed hands. It would flip again moments later as Pietersen landed his second penalty goal from straight in front.

There was no stopping the pendulum as Hidalgo made something out of nothing, his line break yielding another easy shot for Coetzer. The flyhalf used his speed to spark another promising Houston attack, but when Smit took another quick tap Wynand Grassmann misjudged his running line and ruined the attack by conceding a penalty for obstruction.

Augspurger found a gap on the edge of a ruck and broke up the field. Grassmann redeemed himself with a charge-down of a box-kick attempt and the big lock regathered, but the Legion won a turnover and drove back up the field. A knock-on brought an end to an exhilarating opening 40 minutes with the home side holding a 20-18 lead.

There was a more measured approach from both sides to start the second half. Pietersen missed a longer-range penalty attempt but then made gone from a difficult angle to nudge the Legion back into the lead just shy of the hour mark.

A Houston knock-on in a tackle gave Augspurger a chance to counter, with the scrumhalf finding Ben Mitchell on his left. Matías Freyre was next to take the ball on inside SaberCats territory but the pass to Pietersen went to ground and the move ended. Houston lost the a lineout soon after, however, and after Michael Smith wriggled through for a line break Pietersen tacked on his fourth penalty of the game.

It was another Hooley kick in behind the defense that finally saw the visitors pulling away. Smith made the gainline and the grubber from Hooley bounced up perfectly for Freyre to collect and fall over the line for the decisive score. The SaberCats had one final attempt to secure a losing bonus point but Grassmann was held-up over the line at full-time.

Next Saturday will see the SaberCats on the road against Rugby ATL. The Legion are back at home on Sunday to play Old Glory DC.

 

SCORING

HOUSTON 20
Tries – C. Dyer (11′), J. Hidalgo (17′)
Cons – D. Coetzer 2/2 (12′, 18′)
Pens – D. Coetzer 2/2 (27′, 33′)

SAN DIEGO 31
Tries – B. Grant (1′), T. Morani (22′), M. Freyre (72′)
Cons – J. Pietersen 2/3 (2′, 73′)
Pens – J. Pietersen 4/5 (20′, 29′, 57′, 69′)
YC – M. Nonu (26′)

 

TEAMS

HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Nicolás Solveyra (17 Frikkie de Beer 62′), 2 Dean Muir (capt.) (16 Patrick Donovan 78′), 3 Aaron Mitchell (18 Pono Davis 62′), 4 Keni Nasoqeqe (19 Will Crawford 73′), 5 Wynand Grassmann (19 Will Crawford 10′-20′, 62′-73′), 6 Danny Barrett (23 Malon Al-Jiboori 69′), 7 Willie Britz (20 Gideon van Wyk 60′), 8 Jaco Bezuidenhout, 9 Dillon Smit, 10 David Coetzer (22 Robbie Povey 67′), 11 Jax Hidalgo, 12 Matai Leuta, 13 Christian Dyer, 14 Kisi Unufe (21 Nick Boyer 73′), 15 Marcos Moroni

SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Hencus van Wyk (18 Chris Baumann 62′), 2 Matt Moulds, 3 Paddy Ryan (17 Nathan Sylvia HT), 4 Ben Mitchell, 5 Ben Grant, 6 Chris Robshaw (20 Chris Turori 73′), 7 Michael Smith, 8 Tevita Tameilau, 9 Nate Augspurger, 10 Will Hooley, 11 Matías Freyre (23 Kainoa Lloyd 78′), 12 Ma’a Nonu (capt.) (22 Josh Thiel 78′), 13 Thomas Morani, 14 Bjorn Basson, 15 Joe Pietersen

Not used: 16 Chris Schade, 19 Jonah Dietenberger, 21 Nico Gilli

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
Assistants: Mitch Damm (USA) & De Wet Roos (USA)
TMO: Luke Rogan (USA)