NA Rugby Database

Recap

The Houston SaberCats travel to the PNW to face the Seattle Seawolves at Starfire Stadium, with the opportunity to clinch their first ever playoff berch.

The SaberCats needed to win or secure both bonus points in order to secure their first ever playoff berth, and it was a close run thing. The Seawolves cruised to the try BP with 4 tries by the half hour mark, and were ahead by a score of 29-7 at half time, giving the SaberCats a mountain to climb in the second half.

Louritz van der Schyff hit back early before Martin Iosefo bagged his 2nd of the night for Seattle in the 48th minute. The back and forth continued as Christian Dyer gave Houston their 3rd try of the game with the score at 36-19 in favour of Seattle as the game entered it’s last quarter. The SaberCats’ chances of a win were snuffed out when Mzamo Majola scored Seattle’s 6th try of the night in the 70th minute which was converted by AJ Alatimu to extend the lead to 43-19. Despite the mounting scoreline, the SaberCats refused to give up, with Nick Boyer scoring Houston’s bonus point try in the 75th minute, converted by Robbie Povey. This was followed almost immediately by another try by Zach Pangelinan, again converted by Povey.

The score now stood at 43-33 with under 2 minutes to play. Houston had secured the try BP and only needed to draw within 7pts of Seattle to secure their spot in the post-season. With the clock in the red, Seattle gave away a penalty and Povey stepped up to the mark again and made no mistakes. With the last kick of the game, Povey brought the score to 43-36 and although they lost the game, the Houston SaberCats secured the 2 points required to make the playoffs for the first time in club history.