Field day for Legion as SaberCats skewered

photo credit: Jeremy Fletcher / Bigshots Snapshots / Houston SaberCats

Recap

The San Diego Legion put a sound beating on the Houston SaberCats at Dyer Stadium on Sunday evening. Shaky defense and a litany of errors from the home side saw the visitors score 6 tries in the first hour en route to a 40-19 score.

A hole the size of Texas in the SaberCats midfield let Dylan Audsley casually through untouched from inside the Legion’s half. Audsley then split the converging cover defense and found Mike Te’o on his left to finish off the sprinting exercise.

Houston’s scrum, at the very least, was enjoying their day with solid ground beneath their feet. Sam Windsor’s penalty attempt rang off the crossbar but they would get another put-in immediately after. This time the ball went wide and Deion Mikesell showed good strength to shake off three would-be tacklers and touch down over the line.

Within moments the score was erased. Windsor’s pass was picked off by Joe Pietersen and the Legion’s captain was in under the sticks, easy as you like.

Two tries came in rapid succession to end the first half. The first was a sensational individual effort from Nate Augspurger. Connor Murphy jumped the gun and left open air for his opposite. Augspurger stepped on the accelerator and then stepped Zach Pangelinan to finish a 70 meter score.

The bonus point came against the run of play. With Houston pressing, Pietersen picked off another loose pass from Windsor. One quick recycle later and Te’o was screaming through a gap. He offloaded to Augspurger, who sucked in two and backhanded the ball to Nick Boyer for the try.

A cynical late hit from Mateo Sanguinetti on Joe Pietersen sent the Houston prop to the sin bin and San Diego’s captain to the sidelines. From a lineout the bell went wide and Audsley again skipped through the line with ease, with Nick Lupian on hand to take the offload in for the try.

There was no respite for the SaberCats. Windsor’s restart went out on the full, and the Legion won a penalty at the scrum. The attack came in waves with Augspurger almost bouncing through. It was Keni Nasoqeqe’s pirouette that proved the coup de grace. At 40-7 it was job done for San Diego.

With the Legion now just going through the motions, Houston had time for two consolation scores. Thretton Palamo bashed his way over for the first just after the hour mark. A Malacchi Esdale line break set up a wide ball for Charlie Connolly to score, the burly prop loitering on the wing. Time would elapse before a bonus point could be claimed.

 

SCORING

HOUSTON 19
Tries – D. Mikesell (20’), T. Palamo (61′), C. Connolly (71′)
Cons – S. Windsor 2/3 (21’, 62′)
Pens – S. Windsor 0/1
Yellow cards – M. Sanguinetti (50′)

SAN DIEGO 40
Tries – M. Te’o (6’), J. Pietersen (24’), N. Augspurger (37’), N. Boyer (40’), N. Lupian (52′), K. Nasoqeqe (56′)
Cons – J. Pietersen 4/4 (7’, 25’, 38’, 40’), D. Audsley 1/1 (53′), T. Enosa 0/1
Pens – N. Boyer 0/1

 

TEAMS

HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Mateo Sanguinetti (17 Jamie Dever 60′), 2 Pat O’Toole (16 Amro Gouda 72′), 3 Paul Mullen (18 Charlie Connolly 50′), 4 Diego Magno, 5 Matt Trouville (capt.) (19 Victor Comptat 57′), 6 Luke Beauchamp, 7 Cecil Garber (21 Alejandro Nieto 50′), 8 Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz (20 Chris Coyle 72′), 9 Connor Murphy, 10 Sam Windsor, 11 Malacchi Esdale, 12 Thretton Palamo, 13 Osea Kolinisau (22 Max Tacket 60′ {23 Joe Kelly 75}), 14 Deion Mikesell, 15 Zach Pangelinan (17 Jamie Dever 54′-60′)

SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Faka’osi Pifeleti (17 Nathan Sylvia HT), 2 Pat Blair (16 Sione Tu’ihalamaka 57′), 3 Paddy Ryan (18 Aaron Mitchell 55′), 4 Louis Stanfill, 5 Keni Nasoqeqe, 6 Jasa Veremalua, 7 Psalm Wooching (19 Devin Short 53′), 8 Jordan Manihera (20 Drew Gaffney 53′), 9 Nate Augspurger, 10 Joe Pietersen (capt.) (21 Tai Enosa 50′), 11 Ryan Matyas, 12 JP du Plessis (22 Nick Lupian 43′), 13 Dylan Audsley (23 Kyle Rogers 55′), 14 Nick Boyer, 15 Mike Te’o

 

Result

TeamTCPDBPPoints
Houston SaberCats320019
San Diego Legion6500140

Houston SaberCats

1Mateo Sanguinetti 17 Loosehead Prop
2Pat O’Toole 16 Hooker
3Paul Mullen 18 Tighthead Prop
4Diego Magno Left Lock
5Matt Trouville 19 Right Lock
6Luke Beauchamp Blindside Flanker
7Cecil Garber 21 Openside Flanker
8Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz 20 Number Eight
9Connor Murphy Scrumhalf
10Sam Windsor Flyhalf
11Malacchi Esdale Left Wing
12Thretton Palamo Inside Center
13Osea Kolinisau 22 Outside Center
14Deion Mikesell Right Wing
15Zach Pangelinan Fullback
16Amro Gouda 2 Hooker
17Jamie Dever 1 Loosehead Prop
18Charlie Connolly 3 Tighthead Prop
19Victor Comptat 5 Right Lock
20Chris Coyle 8 Openside Flanker
21Alejandro Nieto 7 Number Eight
22Max Tacket 23 Outside Center
23Joe Kelly 22 Outside Center

San Diego Legion

1Faka’osi Pifeleti 17 Loosehead Prop
2Pat Blair 16 Hooker
3Paddy Ryan 18 Tighthead Prop
4Louis Stanfill Left Lock
5Keni Nasoqeqe Right Lock
6Jasa Veremalua Blindside Flanker
7Psalm Wooching 19 Openside Flanker
8Jordan Manihera 20 Number Eight
9Nate Augspurger Scrumhalf
10Joe Pietersen 21 Flyhalf
11Ryan Matyas Left Wing
12JP du Plessis 22 Inside Center
13Dylan Audsley 23 Outside Center
14Nick Boyer Right Wing
15Mike Te’o Fullback
16Sione Tu’ihalamaka 2 Hooker
17Nathan Sylvia 1 Loosehead Prop
18Aaron Mitchell 3 Tighthead Prop
19Devin Short 7 Openside Flanker
20Drew Gaffney 8 Number Eight
21Tai Enosa 10 Flyhalf
22Nick Lupian 12 Inside Center
23Kyle Rogers 13 Fullback

Officials

Referee
Luke Rogan (USA)
Assistant Referee 1
Lex Weiner (USA)
Assistant Referee 2
Greg Varnell (USA)

Details

Date Time League Season
April 28, 2019 7:00 pm Major League Rugby 2019

Venue

Dyer Stadium
2020 Mangum Rd, Houston, TX 77092, USA

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