San Diego Legion & Houston SaberCats

The San Diego Legion pre-season consisted of two matches. They won their opening match 32-24 two weeks ago against Austin Elite Rugby and lost 33-17 to the Houston SaberCats on Saturday, April 7 at Torero Stadium in San Diego. The team will begin their regular Major League Rugby season against the Seattle Seawolves on Sunday, April 22 at 5 pm PDT at Starfire Stadium.

After the win against the San Diego Legion, the Houston SaberCats are 12-2-2. The SaberCats will face NOLA Gold Rugby Club at Houston’s Dyer Stadium on April 21 at 2 pm CDT in the Major League Rugby regular season-opening match.

San Diego Legion vs. Houston SaberCats Recap

The San Diego Legion applied pressure to the Houston SaberCats with an opening attack. The Legion elected to go for points after a penalty by the SaberCats in the 3rd mninute, however Tadhg Leader pushed the ball wide right.

The SaberCats dotted down the first try of the match as Jake Turnbull went through two defenders for a try, which was then converted by Sam Windsor for a 7-0 lead. The Legion answered back after a 5-meter scrum with Cam Dolan scoring the first home try for the Legion and Ben Cima slotted the posts to level the match at 7 all.

The rest of the half had attacks by both teams, however a penalty at the breakdown in the final minute before the break had Leader break the tie with a penalty kick.

In the 54th minute, the Legion increased their lead to 17-7 after a Cima break and an offload to captain Nate Augspurger for a try, with Cima converting.

The SaberCats answered back with a try by Josua Vici and a conversion by Windsor and then took a 19-17 lead when Justin Allen evaded tacklersfor a try.

In the final ten minutes of the match, the SaberCats added a try by Chris Slater, who was starting his first match at scrumhalf and another by a forward. Both tries were converted by Sam Windsor to claim the 33-17 road victory.

Jake Turnbull was the Man of the Match for the SaberCats, while for the Legion, it is unknown if a player was identified.

San Diego Legion and Houston SaberCats Squads

San Diego Legion: 1 Tony Purpuram 2 Gil Covey 3 Dolph Botha 4 Lance Lamprecht 5 Albert “Jay” Harmon 6  Mungo Mason 7 Devin Short 8 Cam Dolan 9 Nate Augspurger (C) 10 Tadhg Leader 11 Nick Evans 12 Ben Cima 13 Anthony Salaber 14 Taku Ngwenya 15 Anthony Welmers 16 Josh Zamudio 17 Tasi Toilolo 18 Aaron Mitchell 19 Sione Tu’ihalamaka 20 Chris Turori 21 Drew Gaffney 22 Sione Letoi 23 Garrett Brewer + Head Coach Rob Hoadley

Houston SaberCats: 1 Adam Macklin 2 Diego Maquierira  3 Paul Mullen 4 Charlie Hewitt 5 Robert Meeson 6 Kyle Sumsion (C) 7 Cecil Garber 8 Pago Haini 9 Connor Murphy 10 Sam Windsor 11 Josua Vici 12 Conor Mills 13 Osea Kolinisau 14 Malacchi Esdale 15 Zach Pangelinan 16 Lindsey Stevens 17 Jake Turnbull 18 Kenneth Hepburn 19 Justin Allen 20 Chris Coyle 21 Chris Slater 22 Kieran Farmer 23 Alex Elkins 24 Chris Parker 25 Matt Trouville + Head Coach Justin Fitzpatrick

San Diego Legion Pre-season Record (1-1)

• March 25 at. Austin Elite (W 32-24) Preview
• April 7 vs. Houston SaberCats (L 33-17) Preview

San Diego Legion 2018 Major League Rugby Schedule

• April 22 at Seattle Seawolves 5 pm PDT Network: Cox/AT&T
• April 29 vs. Utah Warriors 4 pm PDT Network: Cox/AT&T
• May 4 vs. Houston SaberCats 5:30 pm PDT Network: CBSSN (GAME OF THE WEEK)
• May 13 at Glendale Raptors 5 pm PDT Network: Cox/AT&T
• May 26 at Austin Elite 6 pm PDT Network: CBSSN (GAME OF THE WEEK)
• June 9 at New Orleans Gold 1 pm PDT Network: COX
• June 17 vs. Austin Elite 5 pm PDT Network: Cox/AT&T
• June 23  vs. Glendale Raptors 7 pm PDT
  Network: CBSSN (GAME OF THE WEEK)
• June 30 MLR Semi-Finals at Glendale Sat, 5-10 pm PDT Network: CBSSN
• July 7 MLR Championship at San Diego 7-9:45 pm PDT Network: CBSSN (GAME OF THE WEEK)

Houston SaberCats 2018 Major League Rugby Schedule

• April 21 vs New Orleans Gold 2 pm CDT Network: Cox/AT&T
• April 28 vs Austin Elite 2:30 pm CDT Network: AT&T
• May 4 at San Diego Legion 7:30 pm CDT Network: CBSSN (GAME OF THE WEEK)
• May 19 at New Orleans Gold Noon CDT Network: CBSSN (GAME OF THE WEEK)
• May 26 vs. Utah Warriors 5 pm CDT Network: AT&T
• June 2 vs. Seattle Seawolves 8 pm CDT Network: CBSSN (GAME OF THE WEEK)
• June 8 at Glendale Raptors 8 pm CDT Network: AT&T
• June 23 at Utah Warriors 2 pm CDT Network: AT&T
• June 30 MLR Semi-Finals at Glendale Sat, 6 PM – 11 pm CDT Network: CBSSN
• July 7 MLR Championship at San Diego 8-10:45 pm CDT Network: CBSSN (GAME OF THE WEEK)

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