Houston SaberCats

Houston SaberCats

Full name	Houston SaberCats
Founded	2017; 4 years ago (2017)
Location	Houston, Texas
Ground(s)	Aveva Stadium (Capacity: 4,000)
President	J.T. Onyett
Coach(es)	Pote Human
Captain(s)	TBA
Top scorer	Sam Windsor (432)
Most tries	Sam Windsor (14)
League(s)	Major League Rugby
2021	12th placed (regular season)
Team kit
Official website
www.houstonsabercats.com

The Houston SaberCats are an American professional rugby union team based in Houston, Texas. The team was founded in 2017 and competes in Major League Rugby,^[1] the top-level rugby union competition in the United States and Canada that played its first season in 2018. The SaberCats organization was born from one of the founding amateur rugby clubs that pooled resources to emerge professionally, and were the first of in MLR membership to build a rugby-specific stadium intended for MLR competition.

Home field[]

Houston plays their games in Aveva Stadium, which was opened on April 13, 2019.^[2] In February 2018, the City of Houston agreed to fund $3.2 million of the $15.25 million needed to build a permanent rugby stadium for use by the Houston SaberCats at Houston Sports Park.^[3] On July 17, the SaberCats announced naming rights were awarded to British multinational software and technology company Aveva.^[4]

Houston Sports Park is also the permanent training ground for Major League Soccer soccer team Houston Dynamo as well as the Houston Dash women's soccer team.

During the 2018 regular season, the SaberCats played their home matches at Dyer Stadium^[5] and trained at Athlete Training and Health in Houston. The team also played at Constellation Field, home of the Sugar Land Skeeters, for part of the 2019 season, and for their exhibition matches in 2017 and 2018.^[6] Also, in April 2019, while the new pitch at Aveva Stadium healed, the team returned to Dyer Stadium to play one match against San Diego before returning to Aveva Stadium.

Stadium	Capacity	Location	Year(s)
Dyer Stadium	6,000	Houston, Texas	2018
Constellation Field	7,500	Sugar Land, Texas	2018–2019
Aveva Stadium	4,000	Houston, Texas	2019–present

Broadcasts[]

• 2019 home games were shown on KUBE-TV an independent station in Houston.

Sponsorship[]

Season	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor	Other Shirt sponsor(s)
2018–2019	XBlades	Aveva	None
2020
2021–present			Lone Star College System

Players and personnel[]

Current squad[]

The Houston SaberCats squad for the 2022 Major League Rugby season is:^[7]

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player Position Union Diego Fortuny Hooker Argentina Dillon Shotwell Hooker United States Valdemar Lee-Lo Prop United States Nicolás Solveyra Prop Argentina Siaosi Mahoni Lock United States Keni Nasoqeqe* Lock Fiji Emmanuel Albert Back row United States Danny Barrett Back row United States Jaco Bezuidenhout Back row South Africa Willie Britz Back row South Africa Tinashe Muchena Back row Zimbabwe Gideon van Wyk Back row South Africa

Player Position Union Nick Boyer Scrum-half United States Zachary Short Scrum-half United States Dillon Smit Scrum-half South Africa David Coetzer Fly-half South Africa Kian Meadon Fly-half South Africa Robbie Povey Fly-half Canada Centre United States Louritz van der Schyff Centre South Africa Jordan Jackson Wing United States Matai Leuta Wing United States Maka Unufe Wing United States Matías Freyre Fullback Argentina Zach Pangelinan Fullback United States

• Senior 15s internationally capped players are listed in bold.
• * denotes players qualified to play for the United States on dual nationality or residency grounds.
• MLR teams are allowed to field up to ten overseas players per match.

Current Coaching staff[]

• Pote Human (Head Coach)
• Paul Emerick (Assistant Coach – skills)
• Campbell Johnstone (Assistant Coach – forwards)
• Ashley Dixon (Strength & Conditioning Coach)

Records[]

Season standings[]

Year	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	+/−	BP	Pts	Playoffs
2018	7th	8	1	0	7	216	256	−40	7	11	Did not qualify
2019	7th	16	6	0	10	345	496	−151	6	30	Did not qualify
2020	12th	5	1	0	4	99	116	−17	2	6	Season cut short due to Coronavirus Pandemic
2021	12th	16	2	0	14	274	550	-276	5	13	Did not qualify

2018 season[]

Exhibition[]

Date	Opponent	Home/Away	Result
November 18, 2017	Dallas Reds	Away	Won, 31–24
December 2, 2017	Dallas Harlequins	Away	Won, 125–0
December 9, 2017		Away	Won, 46–31
December 9, 2017	Austin Blacks	Away	Won, 55–14
December 16, 2017	Dallas Reds	Home	Won, 21–5
January 6, 2018	Seattle Saracens	Away	Won, 50–7
January 13, 2018	Vancouver Ravens	Away	Lost, 23–26
January 20, 2018	Uruguay National Team	Home	Lost, 24–32
January 27, 2018	James Bay Athletic Club	Home	Won, 42–13
February 3, 2018	Capital Selects	Home	Won, 49–3
February 10, 2018	Chicago Lions	Home	Won, 60–10
February 17, 2018	New York Athletic Club	Away	Won, 39–38
February 24, 2018	New Orleans Gold	Home	Won, 30–12
March 3, 2018	Ontario Arrows	Home	Draw, 28–28
March 24, 2018	New Orleans Gold	Away	Draw, 32–32
April 7, 2018	San Diego Legion	Away	Won, 33–17

Regular season[]

Date	Opponent	Home/Away	Result
April 21	New Orleans Gold	Home	Lost, 26–35
April 28	Austin Elite	Home	Won, 50–38
May 4	San Diego Legion	Away	Lost, 32–35
May 19	New Orleans Gold	Away	Lost, 26–35
May 26	Utah Warriors	Home	Lost, 30–36
June 2	Seattle Seawolves	Home	Lost, 7–20
June 9	Glendale Raptors	Away	Lost, 24–37
June 23	Utah Warriors	Away	Lost, 27–31

2019 season[]

Exhibition[]

Date	Opponent	Home/Away	Result
December 1, 2018		Away	Won, 78–12
December 8, 2018	Dallas Reds	Away	Won, 34–8
January 11, 2019	Austin Elite	Home	Lost, 10–14
January 19, 2019	Glendale Raptors	Home	Lost, 21–36

Regular season[]

Date	Opponent	Home/Away	Venue	Result
January 26	Austin Elite	Away	Dell Diamond	Won, 21–20
February 9	San Diego Legion	Away	Torero Stadium	Lost, 13–17
February 22	Toronto Arrows	Home	Constellation Field	Lost, 27–44
March 2	Rugby United New York	Home	Constellation Field	Lost, 8–35
March 10	Seattle Seawolves	Away	Starfire Sports	Lost, 14–27
March 16	New Orleans Gold	Home	Constellation Field	Lost, 11–49
March 23	Utah Warriors	Home	Constellation Field	Won, 29–27
April 6	Glendale Raptors	Away	Infinity Park	Lost, 44–52
April 13	Seattle Seawolves	Home	Aveva Stadium	Lost, 12–52
April 21	Toronto Arrows	Away	York Stadium	Lost, 21–35
April 27	San Diego Legion	Home	Dyer Stadium	Lost, 19–41
May 5	Rugby United New York	Away	MCU Park	Lost, 0–21
May 18	New Orleans Gold	Away	Archbishop Shaw Stadium	Won, 27–20
May 25	Austin Elite	Home	Aveva Stadium	Won, 36–15
May 29	Glendale Raptors	Home	Aveva Stadium	Won, 32–17
June 1	Utah Warriors	Away	Zions Bank Stadium	Won, 31–27

2020 season[]

On March 12, 2020, MLR announced the season would go on hiatus immediately for 30 days due to fears surrounding the 2019–2020 coronavirus pandemic.^[12] It was cancelled the following week^[13]

Regular season[]

Date	Opponent	Home/Away	Location	Result
February 8	Colorado Raptors	Home	Aveva Stadium	Won, 21–12
February 16	Toronto Arrows	Neutral	Las Vegas Ballpark	Lost, 22–27
February 22	Old Glory DC	Home	Aveva Stadium	Lost, 13–22
March 1	Rugby United New York	Home	Aveva Stadium	Lost, 23–31
March 7	Austin Gilgronis	Home	Aveva Stadium	Lost, 20–24
March 14	New England Free Jacks	Away	Union Point Sports Complex	Cancelled
March 21	Seattle Seawolves	Away	Starfire Stadium	Cancelled
April 5	San Diego Legion	Away	Torero Stadium	Cancelled
April 11	Utah Warriors	Home	Aveva Stadium	Cancelled
April 18	Colorado Raptors	Away	Infinity Park	Cancelled
April 26	Austin Gilgronis	Away	Round Rock Multipurpose Complex	Cancelled
May 2	Seattle Seawolves	Home	Aveva Stadium	Cancelled
May 9	New Orleans Gold	Away	Gold Mine	Cancelled
May 16	San Diego Legion	Home	Aveva Stadium	Cancelled
May 23	Rugby ATL	Home	Aveva Stadium	Cancelled
May 30	Utah Warriors	Away	Zions Bank Stadium	Cancelled

2021 season[]

Regular season[]

Date	Opponent	Home/Away	Result
March 20	Seattle Seawolves	Home	Won, 30–24
March 27	New England Free Jacks	Home	Lost, 0–32
April 3	Austin Gilgronis	Away	Lost, 0–26
April 10	San Diego Legion	Home	Won, 34–32
April 17	LA Giltinis	Home	Lost, 48–33
April 24	Utah Warriors	Away	Lost, 50–43
May 8	New Orleans Gold	Away	Lost, 26–28
May 15	Toronto Arrows	Home	Lost, 10–19
May 22	Old Glory DC	Home	Lost, 13–21
May 29	San Diego Legion	Away	Lost, 11–39
June 5	Austin Gilgronis	Home	Lost, 9–28
June 13	LA Giltinis	Away	Lost, 5–52
June 19	Rugby ATL	Away	Lost, 15–33
June 26	Utah Warriors	Home	Lost, 5–24
July 10	Rugby United New York	Away	Lost, 19–54
July 15	Seattle Seawolves	Away	Lost, 21-40

References[]