Game Preview: Saturday, April 15 vs Dallas Jackals

‘Grounded and hungry,’ SaberCats host Dallas Jackals 

SaberCats using loss to Warriors as ‘learning experience’

By Aaron Wilson

Standing outside the SaberCats’ locker room a week ago following a frustrating loss, Davy Coetzer quickly turned the page toward the next opponent: the Dallas Jackals.

Coetzer, the leading scorer in Major League Rugby, reflected on a 30-24 setback against the Utah Warriors and chalked it up to a learning experience.

“Absolutely, you always want to get something out of a loss,” said Coetzer, who has scored 70 points heading into Saturday night’s home match against the 1-6 Jackals at SaberCats Stadium. “This will make us more grounded and hungry for the next game. You have to move on to the next one and see where we can improve as a team. We know what went wrong already. As long as we take something out of a loss to motivate us, that’s the main thing.”

The 5-2 SaberCats understand that a slow start ultimately led to a defeat. Although the SaberCats scored two tries in the final five minutes to nearly engineer a comeback, they came up short as Dominic Akina was tackled shy of the try line as the clock ran out in the second half.

“We have to get back to our game plan and stick with it,” prop Pono Davis said. “We just have to stay within ourselves.”

The SaberCats’ talented roster includes some additions this week as the team signed Tomiwa Agbongbon and Kitan Ojo, a Houston native and former Rugby HTX academy player.

Adding reinforcements after some injuries, the SaberCats are eager to get back on the field.

“We’re just gonna learn from the game and learn from our mistakes,” Akina said. “We missed a lot of opportunities, gave a lot of opportunities. We’re just going to hit the review room, get back on the film and come back and get ready for Dallas.”

The SaberCats, led by multiple veteran players, are looking to bounce back fast against the Jackals.

“I feel like every single one of these matches leads us to grow,” Labuschagne’ said. “We go back to the drawing board. We know Dallas very well. We take it step by step. The next job is Dallas and we go 100 percent for them.”

The SaberCats are currently in third place in the Western Conference with 26 points. The San Diego Legion (30 points) and Seattle Seawolves (27 points) are atop the standings.

“I still believe we’re in it,” SaberCats coach Pote Human said. “We’re good enough, but it was a real disappointing performance. I told the guys: ‘Learn from this. This can’t happen again. We have to be up for every game.'”

*Photos by BigShots SnapShots