The Utah Warriors host the Houston SaberCats on Saturday, June 1 at Zions Bank Stadium. Kickoff is at 6 pm MT (8 pm ET) in the CBS Sports Network Game of the Week. Tickets for the match are available for the final regular season match for both teams.
The Utah Warriors and the Houston SaberCats have been playing their best rugby of the season. The Warriors enter the match in 8th place in the MLR standings and are 2-11-2 after a tie against the Seawolves last weekend. The SaberCats have a three-game winning streak and are 1-3 since Paul Emerick became Interim Head Coach. The team is 5-10 overall and are 7th in the MLR standings.
Both teams will want a win to leave a positive feeling as they enter the offseason. Expect an exciting match between two teams and some offseason changes as they prepare for MLR season three.
Match Comments
The match preview is an early one with both team rosters unavailable at this time. As such, the rosters for both teams’ previous matches are listed below. In the previous meeting between the teams, the Utah Warriors beat the Houston SaberCats 29-27.
There is not much separating the teams statistically. The Warriors average 23 points per match to 18 for the SaberCats. That has changed recently and the SaberCats beat the Glendale Raptors 32-17 last night in Houston.
The SaberCats have one of the best scrummaging teams in the MLR and that was also evident last night. They will have an edge in the set pieces against the Warriors, but the intangible for the Warriors is their physical play and the explosive counterattacks. The SaberCats defense was stellar against the Raptors and expect it to be so against the Warriors.
Both teams will need to minimize penalties and attempt to score tries when inside their opponent’s 22-meters. Both teams are capable of doing this and should make for an appealing match.
Previous Match Squads for Utah and Houston
Utah Warriors vs Seattle Seawolves: 1 Franco Van den Berg 2 Jeremy Leber 3 Angus Maclellan 4 Saia Uhila (VC) 5 Matt Jensen 6 Lance Williams 7 Ara Elkington 8 Les Soloai 9 Johnny Ika 10 Josh Reeves 11 Fetu’u Vanikolo 12 Tim O’Malley (C) 13 Josh Whippy 14 Nolan Tuamoheloa 15 James Semple 16 Alex Tucci 17 Metai Tuimoala 18 Arthur Bergo19 Huluhola Moungaloa 20 John Cullen 21 Jeremy Misailegalu 22 Josh Anderson 23 Joseph Nicholls + Head Coach Alf Daniels
Houston SaberCats vs Austin Elite Rugby: 1 Jamie Dever 2 Pat O’Toole 3 Charlie Connolly 4 Diego Magno 5 Victor Comptat 6 Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz 7 Cecil Garber 8 Alejandro Nieto 9 Connor Murphy 10 Sam Windsor 11Deion Mikesell 12 Thretton Palamo (C) 13 Josua Vici 14 Malacchi Esdale 15 Osea Kolinisau 16 Amro Gouda 17 Paul Mullen 18 Jake Turnbull 19 Robert Meeson 20 Luke Beauchamp 21 Chris Coyle 22 Zach Pangelinan 23 Kelly Kolberg + Interim Head Coach Paul Emerick
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