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Two unbeaten sides will go head-to-head in a fascinating clash in Houston on Sunday. The Legion venture into the SaberCats den with high hopes, but the home side is equally confident of proving they deserve to be counted among the very top of the Western Conference contenders.
It’s the eighth time the two founding members have collided since 2018. San Diego have the advantage in historical result with five wins from seven, but it was Houston who got win in their most recent meeting. Notably each team won on the road last season.
Houston have rattled off dominant wins over Dallas and NOLA to start the season. Unsurprisingly it’s an identical match day squad named by Pote Human this week, with club captain Dean Muir still in South Africa celebrating the birth of his first child.
The Legion have also impressed against arguably tougher competition. Their season opening victory over Utah was followed up with a similar result against the New England Free Jacks, though both games were played at Snapdragon Stadium.
Nathan Sylvia is out this week, so Chris Baumann steps up into tighthead prop. Fred Apulu is set to make his Legion debut as Baumann’s replacement. It’s a 6/2 split on the bench this week with Chris Turori taking over from Jale Railala as second row cover, and Dan Pryor added as an extra loose forward sub.
Weather will not be a factor with sun and warm temperatures on the forecast. Legion locks Ben Grant and Isaac Ross will look to disrupt Houston’s throw-ins, while Dom Akina and Christian Dyer will need to crowd San Diego’s midfield. Will the loss of Sylvia in the scrum be significant? The visitors enter as slight favorites but this is effectively a coin-toss decision.
Kickoff is set for 2pm local time, 3pm Eastern, noon Pacific. A local broadcast will be available on AT&T SportsNet Southwest in Houston with The Rugby Network streaming worldwide.
HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Rob Cobb, 2 Axel Zapata, 3 Morgan Mitchell, 4 Siaosi Mahoni, 5 Nathan Den Hoedt, 6 Hanco Germishuys, 7 Danny Barrett (capt.), 8 Gideon van Wyk, 9 Carlo de Nysschen, 10 Davy Coetzer, 11 Vereniki Tikoisolomone, 12 Dom Akina, 13 Christian Dyer, 14 Gerrie Labuschagne, 15 Drew Wild
Replacements: 16 Andrew Tuala, 17 Alec McDonnell, 18 Pono Davis, 19 Keni Nasoqeqe, 20 Marno Redelinghuys, 21 Nick Boyer, 22 Robbie Povey, 23 Zach Pangelinan
SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Faka’osi Pifeleti, 2 Sama Malolo, 3 Chris Baumann, 4 Ben Grant, 5 Isaac Ross, 6 Christian Poidevin, 7 Blair Cowan (capt.), 8 Tupou Afungia, 9 Richard Judd, 10 Josh Henderson, 11 Nate Augspurger, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 13 Marcel Brache, 14 Tomas Aoake, 15 Mikey Te’o
Replacements: 16 Shilo Klein, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Fred Apulu, 19 Chris Turori, 20 Dan Pryor, 21 Malakai Latu, 22 Will Hooley, 23 Ryan Matyas
Date: Sunday, March 5
Venue: SaberCats Stadium, Houston
Kickoff: 14:00 local (12:00 Pacific, 15:00 Eastern)
Referee: Chris Assmus (Canada)
Assistants: Brian Dusablon (USA) & Jono Cooper (USA)
TMO: Austin Reed (USA)
Broadcasts: AT&T SportsNet Southwest, The Rugby Network
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2022-05-08 – San Diego Legion 24, Houston SaberCats 34 (SDSU Sports Deck)
2022-02-26 – Houston SaberCats 20, San Diego Legion 31 (SaberCats Stadium)
2021-05-29 – San Diego Legion 39, Houston SaberCats 11 (Elite Athlete Training Center)
2021-04-10 – Houston SaberCats 34, San Diego Legion 32 (SaberCats Stadium)
2019-04-28 – Houston SaberCats 19, San Diego Legion 40 (Dyer Stadium)
2019-02-09 – San Diego Legion 17, Houston SaberCats 13 (Torero Stadium)
2018-05-04 – San Diego Legion 35, Houston SaberCats 32 (Torero Stadium)
