SaberCats Fall Short Against Utah Warriors

‘We didn’t play like we can’ SaberCats fall short against Utah Warriors

Slow start, missed opportunities spell loss for SaberCats at home

By Aaron Wilson

Dominic Akina nearly salvaged a rough night for the SaberCats before his charge toward the try line was halted as time expired, ending a furious late comeback attempt against the Utah Warriors.

Akina was narrowly shoved out of bounds shy of a potential game-changing score as the SaberCats lost the match, 30-24, at home.

After falling behind 17-10 at halftime and 30-10 in the second half, the SaberCats (5-2) came storming back with two tries in the final five minutes to nearly fight back to regain the lead.

“It was one of our plays we go through and it was space in the corner and we figured we would test it,” Akina said of the final play of the match. “It was a 50-50 shot. We just came up short on that one.

“It was a slow start for us. We didn’t come out firing the way we thought we would. Give it to Utah, they’re a tough team. They always have been. We just didn’t match their intensity. We thought we had a good week of practice. We did have a good week of practice, but, obviously, it didn’t show tonight.”

The SaberCats had an early score by Danny Barrett followed by a kick from Davy Coetzer, but Utah came back in the 20th minute with Conner McLeod scoring seven points on a long run out off an assist from Mila Kruse to earn a 10-7 lead.

Although the SaberCats tied it 10-10 after a yellow penalty card assessed against Bailey Wilson, they would never hold another lead or be tied again as Utah took a 17-10 lead into halftime on a breakaway try by Caleb Makene in the 37th minute.

“100 percent, I feel like, at the end of the day, you win on set plays and it makes it easier,” Gerrie Labuschagne’ said. “We struggled a bit there today. Little mistakes, discipline got us in the end. We might well have won it if Dom could have got the try. At the end of the day, the ball didn’t bounce our way. It’s back to the drawing board.”

Afterward, SaberCats coach Pote Human put the setback into perspective.

“We were flat,” Human said. “We didn’t play like we can. We didn’t meet our potential. It was really disappointing. The way we came back in the last six or seven minutes was good. It’s never a good thing to lose, but I told them it should bring us back to ground and work harder for the rest of the season. 

“I still believe we’re in it. 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.'”

A late try by Axel Zapata in the second half was followed by Akina’s near try that wasn’t to be.

“It’s tough,” SaberCats prop Pono Davis said. “Dom fights for the full 80 minutes. He’s one of the guys we rely on heavily. It’s a tough play. He gave us his all. We just have to fight harder. We have to get back to our game plan.”

The slow start was something the SaberCats couldn’t ultimately overcome.

Coetzer, who leads all Major League Rugby scorers with 70 points, expressed confidence that the SaberCats can and will play better going forward.

“We just didn’t execute,” Coetzer said. “The first 10 minutes, we just never got off to a strong start. Utah made use of their opportunities. We just didn’t. That was the difference. We made too many mistakes.

“The first thing you take out of a loss is this will make us more grounded and get us ready for the next game. It’s on to the next one. We’ll look to improve. We know what went wrong already. As long as we take motivation from it and learn from it, we’ll be fine.”

The SaberCats remain one of the top teams in Major League Rugby, 

Seven matches into the season, the SaberCats are in third place in the ultra-competitive Western Conference with 26 points and rank behind the San Diego Legion (30 points) and Seattle Seawolves (27 points).

The SaberCats’ next match is against the 1-6 Dallas Jackals.

“I feel like this is one of these matches that learns us back to growth and gets us ready for the next one,” Labuschagne’ said. “We are a very good squad. At the end of the day, we didn’t play our best and it’s back to the drawing board. Every team comes out and wants to beat the SaberCats. I always say, ‘It’s Houston SaberCats against the world.’

*Photos by BigShots SnapShots