SaberCats Pivot from Preseason Game: ‘Fun, free day for kids’

SaberCats pivot from canceled preseason game to open practice, kids clinic: ‘Fun, free day for kids’
By Aaron Wilson

When the Houston SaberCats learned that the NOLA Gold would be unable to field a team for a scheduled preseason game due to several players dealing with illness, they decided to pivot instead of canceling an entire planned day of work at Aveva Stadium.

The SaberCats held a free open practice Saturday for fans followed by a kids rugby clinic that was preceded by a Rugby HTX match against the Dallas Reds.
The reasoning: Why not make it a productive day?

“When we heard from the Gold that they couldn’t come, we decided instead of just canceling, let’s turn this into a free, fun day for kids,” SaberCats team president J.T. Onyett said. “Specifically, you don’t get a lot of chances to watch the pros play and practice like this. Even though we do a bunch of stuff for the kids, we don’t get as much time as we would like. So, using this time we already had allotted into a game, let’s turn this into a positive for the kids and really try to help them get better at rugby or play for the first time and use it as a positive instead of packing up and going home.

The SaberCats’ only preseason match is against the New England Free Jacks followed by a Feb. 19 regular-season road opener against the Dallas Jackals. The first home regular-season game is Feb. 25 against the Gold.
“It was a really good conditioning and training session,” said first-year SaberCat prop Pono Davis. “We got to run and around and play some rugby, unfortunately, without having NOLA here. It was still a good fun session. We get to hang out with some of the fans and kids. We’re trying to bring the sport to America and get more kids involved and grow our fan base. I think it was a really good move from our coaching staff. It’s a pretty good turnout.”
SaberCats coach Pote Human said that the team made the most out of the situation and adapted on the fly.

“We were definitely looking forward to this game, but we made the best out of it,” Human said. “We’re looking forward to the New England game. We’re excited.”

After the practice session, the SaberCats were joined on the field by several children for rugby instruction and drills.

“It’s always fun having kids around,” said returning all-star Dean Muir, a native of South Africa. “This is where rugby starts.”