2025 – RD 1: Houston SaberCats v Chicago Hounds

22 v 25

Recap

The Houston SaberCats begin their 2025 Campaign by hosting the Chicago Hounds at SaberCats Stadium.

The Hounds, kicking off their 2025 season on the road, will be looking to take one step further than their Eastern Conference Final finish in 2024, while the hosting SaberCats, who finished with the best record of the 2024 regular season with 14-2, will be looking to avenge their upset at the hands of the Dallas Jackals in the Western Conference Semifinals. Unfortunately for the hosts, their season got off to a rocky start, falling 22-25 to the Chicago Hounds in a closely fought game down in Texas, although they do salvage a losing bonus point thanks to Sam Tuifua’s late try on his SaberCats debut.

The Chicago Hounds get their first win under new head coach, Chris Latham, thanks to tries from Maclean Jones and James Scott, along with Dylan Fawsitt’s league-leading 57th try in MLR. An early injury to Mark O’Keeffe will be a concern for the Hounds, and he was seen in a sling after the the game.

Details

Date	Time	League	Season
February 15, 2025	8:00 pm	Major League Rugby	MLR 2025

Results

Team	Penalty Kick	Tries	Conversions	TB	LB	Points
SaberCats	1	3	2	0	1	22
Hounds	2	3	2	0	0	25

SaberCats

#	Player	Position	T	C	P	AC	MG	Tackles	KS/KA	Pts
1	Valdemar Lee-Lo 17	Prop	0	0	0	0	8	6	0	0
2	Seth Smith 16	Hooker	0	0	0	0	8	4	0	0
3	Pono Davis 18	Prop	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	0
4	Justin Basson 19	Lock	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0
5	Nathan Den Hoedt	Lock	0	0	0	0	0	10	0	0
6	Emmanuel Albert 20	Flanker	0	0	0	0	15	6	0	0
7	Marno Redelinghuys	Flanker	0	0	0	0	9	8	0	0
8	Ronan Murphy 21	Number 8	0	0	0	0	4	3	0	0
9	André Warner 22	Scrum-half	1	0	0	0	7	5	0	5
10	Davy Coetzer	Fly-half	0	1	1	0	48	9	2/3	5
11	Seimou Smith	Wing	0	0	0	0	27	2	0	0
12	Sam Hill	Centre	0	0	0	0	12	5	0	0
13	Dominic Akina	Centre	0	0	0	0	90	3	0	0
14	Jeremy Misailegalu	Wing	0	0	0	0	86	3	0	0
15	Drew Wild 23	Fullback	0	0	0	0	29	0	0	0
16	Pita Anae-Ah Sue 2	Hooker	0	0	0	0	34	4	0	0
17	LaRome White 1	Prop	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	0
18	Michael Scott 3	Prop	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	0
19	Johan Momsen 4	Flanker	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	0
20	Keni Nasoqeqe 6	Flanker	0	0	0	0	1	8	0	0
21	Sam Tuifua 8	Flanker	1	0	0	0	9	7	0	5
22	Jay Renton 9	Scrum-half	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
23	Max Schumacher 15	Fly-half	0	0	0	0	23	2	0	0
	Penalty Try	-	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	7
	Total		3	1	1	1	410	115	2/3	22

Hounds

#	Player	Position	T	C	P	MG	Tackles	KS/KA	Pts
1	Faka’osi Pifeleti 18	Prop	0	0	0	0	6	0	0
2	Dylan Fawsitt 16	Hooker	1	0	0	13	8	0	5
3	Charlie Abel 17	Prop	0	0	0	12	7	0	0
4	James Scott	Lock	1	0	0	29	7	0	5
5	Hamish Bain 19	Lock	0	0	0	5	4	0	0
6	Mason Flesch	Flanker	0	0	0	16	12	0	0
7	Maclean Jones	Flanker	1	0	0	24	11	0	5
8	Lucas Rumball 20	Number 8	0	0	0	13	7	0	0
9	Mitch Short	Scrum-half	0	0	0	1	5	0	0
10	Tim Swiel 21	Fly-half	0	1	0	5	2	1/2	2
11	Mark O’Keeffe 22	Wing	0	0	0	2	2	0	0
12	Ollie Devoto	Centre	0	0	0	60	4	0	0
13	Bryce Campbell	Centre	0	0	0	13	5	0	0
14	Noah Brown 23	Wing	0	0	0	22	0	0	0
15	Ben Pollack	Fullback	0	0	0	39	0	0	0
16	Jackson Zabierek 2	Hooker	0	0	0	2	3	0	0
17	Liam Fletcher 3	Prop	0	0	0	5	1	0	0
18	Ignacio Peculo 1	Prop	0	0	0	5	6	0	0
19	Jonah Dietenberger 5	Lock	0	0	0	0	3	0	0
20	Luke White 8	Flanker	0	0	0	24	1	0	0
21	Michael Baska 10	Scrum-half	0	0	0	9	2	0	0
22	Adriaan Carelse 11	Fullback	0	1	2	23	3	3/4	8
23	Noah Flesch 14	Centre	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
	Total		3	2	2	322	101	4/6	25