By Aaron Wilson
The SaberCats’ overriding big-picture perspective after an eight-match winning streak was snapped Sunday on the road against the San Diego Legion was rather simple.
It’s time to start a new winning streak to carry them through the end of the regular season and into the playoffs in their ongoing quest for the Major League Rugby championship.
The top-seeded, 13-2 SaberCats had already clinched home-field advantage in the playoffs before Sunday’s setback and will face the fourth-seeded Dallas Jackals in the semifinals on July 20. Before that match, the SaberCats host the Jackals in a regular-season finale Saturday night at home.
“We’re obviously disappointed,” Sam Hill said. “We didn’t really show the best of ourselves. San Diego played really well. They played fast and physical. We weren’t at our best. We’re disappointed, but I don’t think it’s a bad time for us to have a little wakeup call. It reminds us we’re not invincible. If we’re not on our game, we can have a bad time.”
The SaberCats’ 37-24 loss to the Legion after beating them 33-0 earlier this season in Houston unfolded after falling behind 13-0 in the first half and 18-10 at halftime at Snapdragon Stadium, the site of the Major League Rugby championship final.
The SaberCats’ only other loss this season was against the Eastern Conference division winning New England Free Jacks.
The Legion were led by high-scoring center Tian Loots, a South African native who scored on a breakaway try.
“I think in the first game San Diego didn’t play a lot of their senior guys,” Gideon van Wyk said. “Going there this time, they played most of their senior and experienced guys. That’s no excuse, but our defense, our one-on-one tackles, didn’t stick. We absorbed hits and gave them an advantage and their kicking game was really good.
“The message on the field is we just need to stick in there. We could see their guys getting tired in Houston and we train in the heat and it’s so extreme. When we went to San Diego, the weather was nice. We tried to take it, but it just didn’t go our way. The ball bounced the other way.”
The first try scored by the SaberCats was delivered by Drew Wild. Seimou Smith scored a try later in the match for the SaberCats, as did Pita Anae-Ah Sue.
“It would have been nice to come away with a win and that was definitely the intention,” team captain Nathan Den Hoedt said. “We just didn’t really play like we should have. We knew they would be very tough. We knew they were going to be desperate and throw everything at us. They certainly didn’t disappoint. We certainly didn’t help ourselves. We didn’t execute what we were trying to do. It’s always tough to lose.”
The SaberCats had built the top winning streak in the league this season before falling to San Diego.
“I think we’ve been going well since that first New England match,” Den Hoedt said. “We took a lot of learning from there and went on to win eight in a row. We would have loved to beat San Diego. If we can learn from that game, which I’m sure we will, it could definitely benefit us going into this week against Dallas. We’re disappointed with the loss. As long as we take learning from this, it could be beneficial.
“We’re looking to get a win and get back into the winners column. We approach it as if it’s a final. Obviously, it’s the last regular-season game. We take the mindset of it’s the finals now.”
