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Two winning streaks are on the line when RFC Los Angeles arrives in Houston on Saturday evening. The visitors have turned their fortunes around with three straight wins after the slow start to the campaign. Meanwhile the SaberCats are in second place overall only by virtue of points differential, having handily defeated top-ranked San Diego last weekend to make it five wins in a row.
| CURRENT STANDINGS |
5-1-0 (W5) West 2nd
3-3-0 (W3) West 4th
| STARTING LINEUP CHANGES |
|
IN | OUT |
| none | none |
|
IN | OUT |
| 1 | Declan Leaney | Alessandro Heaney |
| 2 | Ben Sugars | Mike Sosene-Feagai |
| 6 | Jason Damm | Semi Kunatani |
| 7 | Matt Heaton | Ed Timpson |
| 10 | Sean Nolan | Christian Leali’ifano |
| 14 | Christian Dyer | Jack Shaw |
| CAPPED INTERNATIONALS |
(4) – Lindenmuth, Alatimu (Samoa), Davis (USA), McLean (Scotland)
(5) – Damm, Dyer (USA), Heaton, Coe (Canada), Bertranou (Argentina)
| NOTABLE ABSENTEES |
– Wilton Rebolo (HO/PR), Ronan Murphy (N8)
– Mike Sosene-Feagai (HO), Conor Young (TH), Christian Leali’ifano (FH)
| PREDICTION |
The two sides may be on similar trajectories but the SaberCats are clearly the team to beat in MLR at the moment. Pote Human has rewarded his team by fielding an identical lineup to the one that cruised past the Legion. LA are certainly in a better place than they were a month ago, but the absence of Christian Leali’ifano to steer the ship makes this a tough ask. Houston are clear favorites at home.
| LINEUPS |
HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Ezekiel Lindenmuth, 2 Seth Smith, 3 Pono Davis, 4 Johan Momsen, 5 Nathan Den Hoedt (capt.), 6 Emmanuel Albert, 7 Marno Redelinghuys, 8 Sam Tuifua, 9 André Warner, 10 Davy Coetzer, 11 Max Schumacher, 12 Dom Akina, 13 Tautalatasi Tasi, 14 Rufus McLean, 15 Drew Wild
Replacements: 16 Pita Anae-Ah Sue, 17 LaRome White, 18 Michael Scott, 19 Justin Basson, 20 Keni Nasoqeqe, 21 Jay Renton, 22 AJ Alatimu, 23 Jeremy Misailegalu
RFC LOS ANGELES
1 Declan Leaney, 2 Ben Sugars, 3 Maliu Niuafe, 4 Lucas Bur, 5 Jurie van Vuuren, 6 Jason Damm (capt.), 7 Matt Heaton, 8 Ben Houston, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Sean Nolan, 11 Andrew Coe, 12 Billy Meakes, 13 Matias Jensen, 14 Christian Dyer, 15 Rory van Vugt
Replacements: 16 Ben Strang, 17 Alessandro Heaney, 18 Franco van den Berg, 19 Tim Anstee, 20 Ed Timpson, 21 Tas Smith, 22 Will Leonard, 23 Reece MacDonald
| MATCH INFO |
Date: Saturday, April 5
Venue: SaberCats Stadium, Houston
Kickoff: 19:00 local (17:00 Pacific, 20:00 Eastern)
Weather Forecast: partly cloudy, 72°F (22°C), wind W 15-22mph (24-35km/h)
Broadcasts: ESPN+, CW39, FanDuel SoCal, Sky Sports NZ, The Rugby Network
| OFFICIALS |
Referee: George Myers (Australia)
Assistants: Marquise Goodwin (USA) & Jono Cooper (USA)
TMO: Chris O’Malley (USA)
| HISTORY |
HEAD-TO-HEAD (6) – Houston 4, ATL/LA 2
2025-02-23 – RFC Los Angeles 28, Houston SaberCats 45 (Wallis Annenberg Stadium)
2024-06-08 – Houston SaberCats 29, RFC Los Angeles 12 (SaberCats Stadium)
2024-03-10 – RFC Los Angeles 12, Houston SaberCats 27 (Dignity Health Track Field)
2023-03-25 – Houston SaberCats 40, Rugby ATL 28 (SaberCats Stadium)
2022-03-05 – Rugby ATL 29, Houston SaberCats 22 (Silverbacks Park)
2021-06-19 – Rugby ATL 33, Houston SaberCats 15 (Lupo Family Field)
