Austin Elite Rugby vs. Houston SaberCats: MLR Preview

Austin Elite Rugby hosts the Houston SaberCats at 7 pm CST at Dell Diamond Stadium in Round Rock, Texas. Tickets are still available. For those who can’t attend, the match is being broadcast on ESPN+, Facebook Watch, and Kube.

The Houston SaberCats will hold a Watch Party at Hough O’Connors, 7620 Katy Freeway, Houston. The LadyCats will be in attendance.

Austin Elite Rugby

Austin Elite Rugby has access to many of their international players in advance of the Americas Rugby Championship next week. The team is a solid one in the forwards with a front row of Simon Courcoul, who played PRO D2 in France with Narbonne and Bayonne, Chris Schade, and Uruguay tighthead prop Juan Echeverria. Captain Ben Mitchell, who played rugby in Ireland, pairs with Canada international Josh Larsen teams at lock. The back row includes South Africans Kyle Breytenbach and Rikus Zwart, with No. 8 Travis Larsen, who played for Canada A.

The team has a French halfbacks connection with Mickaël Romera at scrumhalf and Timothée Guillimin at flyhalf. Uruguay center Andres Vilaseca pairs with Sione Fangaiuiha and the back-three consists of Alex Faison-Donahoe and Peni Tagive the wings, and vice-captain Zinzan Elan-Puttick at fullback.

Reserves include hooker Tiaan Strauss Erasmus, Hooker/Prop Brendan Rams, and props LaRome White and Mason Pedersen. Dominique Bailey is a flanker, Marcelo Torrealba plays scrumhalf for Chile, Soheyl Jaoudat played wing for Morocco, with Reece Czarnecki also a wing.

Houston SaberCats

The Houston SaberCats have made some changes since the teams met in a preseason match two weeks ago. Alex Elkins, Josua Vici, and Osea Kolinisau are not on the squad.

The SaberCats have a strong group of forwards with an Irish front row of Jamie Dever, Pat O’Toole, and Charlie Connolly. Robert Meeson and captain Matt Trouville are the locks with a back row of Australia flanker Luke Beauchamp and Cecil Garber the flankers and Ayron Schramm, who plays on the German National Team at No. 8.

The halfback combination pairs Uruguay scrumhalf Santiago Arate with former Ulster flyhalf Sam Windsor. The centers include Conor Mills and Max Tacket, wings Joe Kkelly and Malacchi Esdale, with Zach Pangelinan at fullback.

Jack Riley returns from injury at hooker in the reserves, with Jake Turnbull and Matt Almeida at prop, Chris Park and Chris Coyle at the back row, Connor Murphy is a scrumhalf, Irving Carcamo a center, and Kelly Kolberg a wing.