SaberCats Defeat Hounds, Snap Losing Streak on van Wyk’s game-winner

Gideon van Wyk’s late try seals the game over Chicago

By Aaron Wilson

Dashing away from pursuit, making defenders fall with a sudden fake pitch at midfield, Gideon van Wyk didn’t stop running until he dove head-first for a late game-winning try.

It was a clutch second-half moment for the SaberCats and their standout flanker as his score allowed them to snap a three-match losing streak Saturday night to manufacture a 40-33 victory over the 1-12 Chicago Hounds.

“I was just in the right place at the right time,” van Wyk said. “All credit to my team again. The last 20 minutes we were on our goal line. We were defending, defending, defending. All those guys standing behind me, we’re family and we stick up for each other.”

Because of the win, the SaberCats improved to 8-5 for the season and remain in fourth place in the Major League Rugby standings with two matches remaining in the regular season. The SaberCats are tied with the Utah Warriors, who beat Rugby ATL to improve to 9-4, with 43 points apiece, but the Warriors currently have the tiebreaker with one more win than Houston.

“We can be happy with the win, you should be, but we still left a lot of points on their side of the scoreboard that shouldn’t have happened,” Christian Dyer said. “We’re going to have to figure that out and why we’re leaking out some tries. We’re going to have to figure that one because that won’t cut it, come the playoffs. 

“At the end of the day, I’m happy we got the win. It’s good to turn the tide of the season coming from an 0-3 position before this. Hopefully, this can be the catalyst to changing the season.”

The SaberCats led 33-14 at halftime, but dealt with injuries and lost momentum in the second half.

Although Chicago caught up behind tries from Chris Mattina and Matai Leuta in the second half, the SaberCats had a lot of scoring punch from Robert Povey (13 points) along with tries from Joseph Taufete’e, van Wyk, Dominic Akina and Vereniki Tikoisolomone.

“I think as soon as we made a lot of changes, the bench came on and we had injuries,” van Wyk said. “It’s never planned, but we got our momentum back and we got the win.”

The SaberCats got a boost from Povey as Major League Rugby’s leading scorer, Davy Coetzer, was sidelined for this match with a knee injury. 

“We’re really happy to get this win after we lost the last three against really good sides,” Povey said. “We got ourselves in a little bit of trouble after a really good start, but we managed to pull it out and we’re still in contention for the playoffs.

“The boys are sticking together, digging down. We’ve got to keep that fight. I was just excited to get back out there. Davy has been playing really well all season. I got out there and tried to do the best I can.”

Without van Wyk’s deciding score, it’s a different story for the SaberCats.

“The guy always seems to be in the right place at the right time,” Povey said. “He pops out and makes the try. Great work from him, great finish.”

There is some optimism that Coetzer can return for next week’s road match against Toronto. Coetzer is feeling better and making progress.

“We hope Davy can come back next week,” van Wyk said. “We would love to have him back.”

Squandering a commanding lead was frustrating for the SaberCats. It would have been even worse to lose the match, though, as they survived and got a favorable outcome with a five-point win.

“Disappointed to be up and then they come back,” SaberCats director Heyneke Meyer said. “Too many discipline errors and mistakes. Really proud of how they stuck together. We really needed this one. It’s going to be a huge confidence-booster.

“To get five points out of the game, we’ll take that any day. With Davy out, a lot of guys played well. Every second counts. The score at the last second, very happy with the score.”

At this stage of the season, every match is pivotal toward the big picture: a chase for the playoffs and a push for a potential championship.

“All the players need to be ready to put their hand up when called upon and the boys who got the opportunity, that’s a credit to them,” Dyer said. “I think we still need to review this game and figure out where the gaps were and what went well and we can build on. Then, it’s all eyes on Toronto.”

The Arrows are 1-10-2 overall this season and in last place in the Eastern Conference.

“We need to focus for the game,” van Wyk said. “Toronto is a team that likes to throw the ball around and has a kicking game as well. We need to go Monday and review it. There were a lot of mistakes in this game. We need to learn from it.”

*Photos by BigShots SnapShots