Houston SaberCats

Houston SaberCats

Full name	Houston SaberCats
Founded	2017 (2017)
Location	Houston, Texas
Ground(s)	Aveva Stadium (Capacity: 4,000)
President	J.T. Onyett
Coach(es)	Paul Healy (Head) Paul Emerick (Skills) Darren Morris (forwards) Sam Windsor (backs) Neil Kelly (defence)
Captain(s)	Matt Trouville
Top scorer	Sam Windsor (263)
Most tries	Sam Windsor (10)
League(s)	Major League Rugby
2019	7th 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, the top-level rugby competition in the United States 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

Main article: Aveva Stadium

Houston plays their games in Aveva Stadium, which was opened on April 13, 2019. 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. On July 17, the SaberCats announced naming rights were awarded to British multinational software and technology company Aveva.

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 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. 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. Lincoln Rose and Kit McConnico were the on air talent.
• 2020 home games will be shown on Univision Houston alongside with TheKUBE.

Sponsorship

Season	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
2018-2019	XBlades	Aveva
2020-present	Paladin Sports	Aveva

Players and personnel

Current squad

For player movements before and during the 2020 season, see List of 2019–20 Major League Rugby transfers § Houston SaberCats.

The following players have been reported for Houston for the 2020 season:

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 Gabriel Romero Hooker United States Tim Cadwallader Hooker New Zealand Matt Almeida Prop United States Charlie Connolly Prop Ireland Jamie Dever Prop Ireland Valdemar Lee-Lo Prop United States Nicolás Solveyra Prop Argentina Boyd Wiggins Prop New Zealand Victor Comptat Lock United States Charlie Hewitt Lock England Diego Magno Lock Uruguay Kyle Breytenbach Lock South Africa Luke Beauchamp Flanker Australia Cecil Garber Flanker United States Chad Joseph* Flanker New Zealand Alex Elkins Number 8 United States

Player Position Union De Wet Roos Scrum-half Australia Zachary Short Scrum-half United States Jake Christmann Scrum-half United States Kieran Farmer Fly-half United States Sam Windsor Fly-half Australia Taylor Howden Centre United States Tiaan Loots Centre South Africa Max Tacket Centre United States Matías Freyre Centre Argentina Zack Godfrey Wing England Malacchi Esdale Wing United States Tim Stanfill Wing United States Joe Kelly Fullback United States Osea Kolinisau Fullback Fiji Zach Pangelinan Fullback United States

• Senior 15's and senior 7's internationally capped players in bold
• MLR teams are allowed to field up to ten (10) overseas players per match who are not qualified to play for the USA or Canadian national teams.

Coaching staff

• Paul Healy (Head Coach)
• Paul Emerick (Assistant Coach - skills)
• Darren Morris (Assistant Coach - forwards)
• Sam Windsor (Assistant Coach - backs)
• Matt Trouville (Academy Director)
• Neil Kelly (Assistant Coach - defence)

Head coaches

• Justin Fitzpatrick (2017–2019)
• Paul Emerick (2019)
• Paul Healy (2019–present)

Captains

• Kyle Sumsion (2018)
• Matt Trouville (2019)

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

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	Austin Blacks	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	Austin Blacks	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

Regular season

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