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The Houston SaberCats had no trouble securing a bonus-point win over their Texan rivals Dallas on Sunday evening. There was at least some promise shown by the Jackals, with two late tries making the final score 33-12 to the visitors.
Dallas spent the majority of the first half pinned in their own end. When they did clear the ball it was only temporary, with Davy Coetzer firing it back into the corner.
Houston’s scrum set the platform for the first try. Louritz van der Schyff ran a hard line off first phase and simply crashed through the defense to get the visitors on the board.
van der Schyff was replaced at the hydration break by Nick Boyer, with Christian Dyer sliding into the midfield. The shakeup didn’t phase the SaberCats, and a set move on a 5-meter penalty saw Hanco Germishuys barging over for the second try. Coetzer converted to make it 12-0.
It was Coetzer himself who did the job on the third try. The flyhalf spotted a gap between two Jackals forwards and slipped through, sprinting 30 meters straight ahead to touch down under the posts making the score 19-0 at halftime.
The bonus point was secured shortly after the restart. Carlo de Nysschen stepped past the post defense and then wrong-footed the cover to score a fine individual effort. Coetzer’s kick stretched the lead to 26-0 for the SaberCats.
A break finally came for the Jackals just after the hour mark. The pack made some hard yards up the middle and the ball went wide to Jerónimo Gómez Vara, the flanker powering over for a try on debut. Adriaan Carelse’s conversion attempt was pushed wide of the posts.
The SaberCats lost scrumhalf Carlo de Nysschen to a lower leg injury soon after, replaced by Robbie Povey. After some phase play they managed to manufacture a fifth try via Christian Dyer with Coetzer tacking on his third kick of the game.
To the home side’s credit, they did not concede and a trick play at the lineout set up a score for Adriaan Booysen. Maikali Naromaitoga peeled around the front and popped to the big Namibian eightman for the finish, with Adriaan Carelse slotting the extras.
The Jackals hit the road next Saturday when they take on the Utah Warriors at Zions Bank Stadium. Later that evening the SaberCats hold their home opener at AVEVA Stadium against the NOLA Gold.
SCORING
DALLAS 12
Tries (2) – J. Gómez Vara (65′), A. Booysen (76′)
Cons (1) – A. Carelse 1/2 (77′)
HOUSTON 33
Tries (5) – L. van der Schyff (8′), H. Germishuys (29′), D. Coetzer (37′), C. de Nysschen (45′), C. Dyer (72′)
Cons (4) – D. Coetzer 3/4 (30′, 46′, 73′), No kick (37′)
TEAMS
DALLAS JACKALS
1 Liam Murray (17 Alex Tucci 67′), 2 Dewald Kotze (16 Connor Robinson 58′), 3 Juan Pablo Zeiss (18 Kyle Steeves 73′), 4 Sam Golla (20 Carson Shoemaker 73′), 5 Lucas Bur, 6 Jerónimo Gómez Vara, 7 Conrado Roura (19 Maikeli Naromaitoga 61′), 8 Adriaan Booysen, 9 Nazareno Valentini (21 Danny Christensen 47′), 10 Alejandro Torres (23 James Vaifale 52′), 11 Marcos Moroni, 12 Juan Pablo Aguirre (capt.) (22 Campbell Johnstone 48′), 13 Tomás Malanos, 14 Eric Naposki, 15 Adriaan Carelse
HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Rob Cobb (17 Alec McDonnell 67′), 2 Axel Zapata (16 Andrew Tuala 67′), 3 Morgan Mitchell (18 Pono Davis 67′), 4 Siaosi Mahoni (20 Marno Redelinghuys 49′), 5 Nathan Den Hoedt (23 Emmanuel Albert 73′), 6 Wynand Grassmann (19 Keni Nasoqeqe 46′), 7 Danny Barrett (capt.), 8 Hanco Germishuys, 9 Carlo de Nysschen (22 Robbie Povey 67′), 10 Davy Coetzer, 11 Gerrie Labuschagne, 12 Louritz van der Schyff (21 Nick Boyer 21′), 13 Dom Akina, 14 Christian Dyer, 15 Drew Wild (22 Robbie Povey 58′-61′)
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Moe Chaudhry (Canada)
Assistants: Andrew Low (USA) & Justin Hale (USA)
TMO: Derek Summers (USA)
