The Major League Rugby second season is starting off tonight in an exhibition game at the Sugar Land Constellation Field between the Houston Sabercats and Austin Elite. The game will be the first of two exhibition games played at Constellation Field until the new stadium is finished. The sports complex will accommodate three fields; soccer, football, lacrosse and field hockey. In the main field it will seat approximately 3,200 fans with standing-room for another 800 patrons, parking for 1,200 vehicles, locker room facilities and concessions. AVEVA will be the name of the stadium, AVEVA are the Principle Partner of the SaberCats and will be the logo displayed across the chest of the game jerseys for the SaberCats. The stadium is scheduled to open in March 2019.
The coaches for the teams are Alain Hyardet for Austin Elite and Justin Fitzpatrick for the Houston SaberCats and the officials for the game are Scott Green and Greg Varne II. There is a call for rain tonight but has only misted and drizzled a little so the game is going to start on time.
The teams started off aggressively, both reaching their goals but not scoring. The first score came 30 minutes into the game when #11 Josu Vici broke thru and #15 Zach Pangelinan scored the first TRY putting the SaberCats on the board. The conversion was unfortunately missed. The score SaberCats 5 and Austin 0 in the first half.
The second half brought more action by the SaberCats scoring another Try by #5 Matt Trouville but the conversion was once again missed, so score was SaberCats 10 and Austin 0. The Austin team scored late in the game 57 minutes in with the TRY and conversion which changed the score SaberCats 10 and Austin 7. The Austin didn’t stop there in the 68 minute of the game they scored one more time with the TRY and conversion successful to put the Austin Elite ahead n 14 and the SaberCats 10.
The final score Houston SaberCats 10 and Austin Elite 14. The teams will meet again on January 26th in Austin, Texas for another Texas Showdown. The next game for the Houston SaberCats will be at Constellation Field on January 19th when the Houston SaberCats will play Glendale Raptors.
Santos Hernandez, Senior Writer
Bigshots Snapshots Media Group 