The Houston SaberCats host the Toronto Arrows on Friday, February 22 at 7 pm CST (8 pm EST) at Constellation Field. It is the SaberCats first home game of the season and tickets are still available. For those who can’t attend, the match will be broadcast on the Houston SaberCats Rugby Facebook, Game TV, and Kube.
The SaberCats enter the match with a 1-1 record. The team opened the season with a 21-20 win over Austin Elite Rugby and a 17-13 loss to the San Diego Legion. The Toronto Arrows are 1-2 with a 36-31 loss to NOLA Gold, a 23-19 win over Austin Elite Rugby and a 35-30 loss to the Seattle Seawolves.
Match Comments
Houston SaberCats Justin Fitzpatrick has made four changes to his starters. The team will have Uruguay loosehead prop Mateo Sanguinetti join Pat O’Toole and Jamie Dever in the front row with Dever switching to tighthead and Chris Coyle gets a start at flanker. In the backs, Osea Kolinisau will see his first regular-season action in 2019 at outside center and Kelly Kolberg will start at wing.
In the reserves, Diego Magno and Alejandro Nieto return from international duty with Uruguay and with Santiago Arata being unavailable due to an incident the first week of the Americas Rugby Championship, the team has signed Chris Saint at scrumhalf.
Toronto Arrows Director of Rugby Chris Silverthorn has made four changes to his starters with Rob Brouwer returning at loosehead prop while shifting Tom Dolezel to tighthead. Josh Van Horne returns to start at lock. In the back three, Johnny Sheridan is at left wing and Jack Evans will be at fullback. Two reserves join the squad for the first time this season. Leandro Leivas and Gaston Mieres have returned from the Uruguay National team and look to make their debut on the wing.
The Arrows are missing six starters for Canada in the Americas Rugby Championship in Cole keith, Mike Sheppard, Lucas Rumball, Jamie Mackintosh, Kainoa Lloyd, and Theo Sauder.
Squads With Player Article Links
Houston SaberCats: 1 Mateo Sanguinetti 2 Pat O’Toole 3 Jamie Dever 4 Robert Meeson 5 Matt Trouville (C) 6 Luke Beauchamp 7 Chris Coyle 8 Ayron Schramm 9 Connor Murphy 10 Sam Windsor 11 Malacchi Esdale 12 Max Tacket 13 Osea Kolinisau 14 Kelly Kolberg 15 Zach Pangelinan 16 Amro Gouda 17 Jake Turnbull 18 Charlie Connolly19 Chris Parker 20 Diego Magno 21 Alejandro Nieto 22 Chris Saint 23 Conor Mills + Head Coach Justin Fitzpatrick
Toronto Arrows: 1 Rob Brouwer 2 AJ Quattrin 3 Tom Dolezel 4 Josh Van Horne 5 Paul Ciulini 6 Peter Milazzo 7 Marcello Wainwright 8 Kolby Francis 9 Andrew Ferguson 10 Sam Malcolm 11 Johnny Sheridan 12 Spencer Jones 13 Dan Moor (C) 14 Avery Oitomen 15 Jack Evans 16 Steven Ng 17 Pat Lynott 18 Mike Smith 19 Tom Van Horne 20 Andrew Wilson 21 Riley DiNardo 22 Leandro Leivas 23 Gastón Mieres+ Director of Rugby Chris Silverthorn
Other Articles
DJCoil Rugby articles by Doug Coil are also available on Facebook. Other Social Media sites to follow or subscribe include Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube for interviews.
