Undefeated SaberCats Race Past Gold in Home Opener

Once the SaberCats got their bearings, they never looked back. They transformed a match into a track meet.

Between flanker Gideon van Wyk intercepting an errant pass by the Nola Gold, smoothly breaking on the ball before sprinting untouched in the open field for a try, precise kicks from Davy Coetzer and winning a series of scrums, the undefeated SaberCats manufactured a 35-14 victory Saturday night at SaberCats Stadium.

The home opening match for the 2-0 SaberCats was punctuated by sharp passing, adept teamwork and a signature aggressive style.

The bigger picture for the SaberCats was emphasized by several participants. There are difficult games ahead, including next Sunday’s match against the talented San Diego Legion. This team hasn’t peaked yet.

To a man, they’re optimistic that they’re capable of achieving superior performances.

“I thought we were all right,” said vice captain Christian Dyer, who scored a try for the second straight week. “We started off slow and we paid the price for that early on. New Orleans came in hot and it took us a while to get into our groove. So, we’ll learn from that, right our wrongs, get back to the drawing board and what things we can get better at. We take it game by game and next week is now our focus.

“It’s still early in the season, but it’s an encouraging start. I think we’re building a foundation. I think we’re far from peaking. We’re far away from our potential, which, on the one hand, is amazing, which, on the other hand, we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ve just got to stay grounded and come to work every single day.”

Veteran director Heyneke Meyer is determined to keep establishing higher and higher standards for the SaberCats. Under the leadership of Meyer and coach Pote Human, they’re looking for a gold standard.

The fans were loud, thoroughly enjoying how the SaberCats took control of the match.

“I think we always want to have a good start, but there were a lot of mistakes,” Meyer said. “It’s been a good two weeks where we’ve won. We should win at home. That’s where you want to create a place here that’s difficult to play for other teams. Although we won, we have to be humble because there’s a lot of mistakes and we made more than we should. There’s a lot of hard work ahead of us.”

As a returning playoff squad coming off a 9-7 season and the first postseason appearance in franchise history, the SaberCats have earned two wins to open the season. They have outscored the competition by a combined margin of 68 to 26. 

“I thought we played well,” prop Pono Davis said. “I thought we were dominant. We finally got the ball outside to the backs. They didn’t disappoint.”

Vereniki Tikoisolomone scored an early try, and van Wyk followed his lead with another try. Coetzer scored eight points.

The speed of Dominic Akina, a former Austin MLR standout, continues to be a factor for the SaberCats along with the leadership of captain Danny Barrett and the strength of Morgan Mitchell.

Hanco Germishuys led the team with 18 tackles followed by 15 from Axel Zapata and 12 from Nathan Den Hoed.

“I think we executed nicely in certain stages,” van Wyk said. “We knew because we had video sessions how Nola was going to play. If there’s an opportunity, you need to take it. We have a saying, ‘Next job.’ We celebrate tonight and it’s on to the next job.”

Gerrie Labuschagne‘, after signing several autographs and posing for photographs with fans along with his teammates, reflected on the state of the team at this early stage of the season.

“I feel really great,” Labuschagne’ said. “In the beginning, we struggled a little bit with our tempo and playing the way we can, but it all clicked in the end. I’m happy with the boys’ performance, but there’s a lot we can work on. One-hundred percent, it’s always important to be humble and keep working. Always stay grounded and, as we always say, keep our feet on the ground, eyes up and keep your eyes forward.”

*Photos by BigShots Snapshots