The Houston SaberCats will face James Bay Athletic Club Saturday, January 27 in their fourth pre-season match at Constellation Field in Sugarland, Texas. The team has a 1-2 record and narrowly lost to the Uruguay National Team, Los Teros, 32-24 last Saturday. Sugarland, Texas. Uruguay is currently ranked 18th in the world, just behind the United States. Grant Cole and Brett Mills have provided the commentary for the team on MixLr. Tickets are still available. Gates open at 5:30 pm.
The SaberCats began the pre-season against the Seattle Saracens, winning 50-7 on Jan. 6 and losing in the final minutes to the Vancouver Ravens 26-23.
Game Day Schedule
- 3 pm Tailgate Opens
- 3-7 pm Food Trucks
- 4-7 pm Live DJ
- 5-6 pm Player Autographs
- 5:30 pm Stadium Doors & Fan Zone
- 7 pm Match Kick-off
- First 1,000 Fans through the gate get a SaberCats Swag Bag
Houston SaberCats
The Hoston SaberCats have made four changes in their starting XV. Kenneth “Petey” Hepburn gets his first start at loosehead prop. Chris Parker is at open side flanker, with captain Kyle Sumsion moving to No. 8. Dan Paul is at outside center with Osea Lolinisau moving to wing.
In the reserves, there are also changes. Andres Diaz at hooker, jackson Slater a lock and Paul Mullin a prop.
Houston SaberCats: 1 Kenneth Hepburn 2 Diego Maquieira 3 Adam Macklin 4 Charlie Hewitt 5 Robert Meeson 6 Chris Parker 7 Cecil Garber 8 Kyle Sumsion (c) 9 Connor Murphy 10 Sam Windsor 11 Josua Vici 12 Conor Mills 13 Dan Paul 14 Osea Kolinisau 15 Zach Pangelinan 16 Andres Diaz 17 Estevan Florez 18 Jack Riley 19 Justin Allen 20 Jackson Slater 21 Chris Slater 22 Kieran Farmer 23 Art Reyes 24 Paul Mullin
James Bay Athletic Club
With Canada playing Uruguay in Vancouver this Saturday in an American Rugby Championship 2018 match, which also serves as the first of two Rugby World Cup qualifiers for the Americas 2 team, James Bay will be missing a few players. BC Rugby News has provided an excellent preview about James Bay Athletic Club, with highlights listed below.
Cole Keith is playing prop for Canada, so the props will be Blake van Heyningen and Noah Barker with Steven Ng at hooker. Barker usually plays hooker. The locks are Shea Wakefield and Jacobus de Goede, with Wakefield a former UVic player and de Goede moving up from the D1 side. Mohamed Abdelmonem will play openside flanker and Jakob Butler, blind-side, while Paul Ciulini rounds out the starting forwards at No. 8.
Travis Larsen was injured last week, but Paul Ciulini, a former Canada U20 player and with 6 caps for Canada is a very experienced player.
The halfbacks include Mitchell Sora at scrum-half, who played wing last week against the Seattle Saracens, and Mitch Richardson, who has taken over for Canada player Sean White, who retired from rugby in November.
The centers are Guillaume Caillaux, who is from France and Michael Niewenhuysen, a Canada A back and powerful runner. The back three has wings Aaron Evison and Nathan Waldmann, with Blake Mahovic, a former rugby league player in the UK.
The reserves include 16 Andrew Macpherson Prop, 17 Jason Lines Prop, 18 Jack Mealey Hooker, 19 Tyler Rockwell Flanker, 20 Nathan Tough Center, 21 Liam Murray Prop, 22 Thomas Burton Back
James Bay: 1 Blake van Heyningen 2 Steven Ng 3 Noah Barker 4 Shea Wakefield 5 Jacobus de Goede 6 Mohamed Abdelmonem7 Jakob Butler 8 Paul Ciulini 9 Mitchell Sora 10 Mitch Richardson 11 Aaron Evison
12 Guillaume Caillaux 13 Michael Niewenhuysen 14 Nathan Waldmann 15 Blake Mahovic 16 Andrew Macpherson 17 Jason Lines 18 Jack Mealey 19 Tyler Rockwell 20 Nathan Tough 21 Liam Murray 22 Thomas Burton
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