Jesuit Rugby falls short of Houston Sabercats U18 in Preseason

This Saturday, December 9, 2023, Jesuit rugby hosted the Houston Sabercats under 18 select team for a match that ended in a loss for the Rangers after two brutal 35-minute halves. The Houston Sabercats are a member team of Major League Rugby, the flagship of professional rugby in the United States. However, your Rangers did not play this major league team but their academy team made up of players 18 and younger, losing 38 to 3.

Fortunately, this loss will not be included on the Ranger’s record, as this was a preseason friendly match. With high hopes for a back-to-back state championship run, head coach Matthew Upton ’02 scheduled an ambitious matchup to prepare the team for a difficult season. Here are Coach’s thoughts on the season:

“Every team we play will see the matchup as their Superbowl.”

To begin the matchup, the Sabercats saw 2 quick tries scored by their forwards, missing one conversion following their tries and then making the next. After an array of penalties, the Rangers began to find their stride but struggled due to the superior size of the Sabercats team. Particularly, Houston was able to secure multiple turnovers resulting from the Rangers’ sup-par rucks. Jesuit found success in the kicking game, however, utilizing their lineout game to march down the field in the middle of the 1st half. After a penalty was awarded to Jesuit on the 15-yard line, senior Dylan Wachsman ’24 made a penalty kick that awarded the Rangers 3 points to prevent a shutout. Senior Mark Sullivan, who starts at 15 for Jesuit, had this to say about the team’s inability to score:

“We Need to get Better body angles in Contant, move our feet, and secure the RUcks.”

In the second half, Jesuits’ problems only became more severe as more substitutions began to roll in. Namely, the Rangers had held the Sabercats to only 2 tries at the half, but Houston ended their drought at the beginning of the second half, as the visitor’s center-back took a hard crash on the outside, then utilized a kick to advance the ball, and recovered it himself in the try-zone. From here, any hope Jesuits had for victory died away. Throughout the rest of the match, key players were taken out, and the second string did not fare well against the Sabercats.

One disadvantage the Rangers suffered was in the coaching staff. Coach Upton was not able to attend the game in person, leaving management to Junior Varsity and Assistant Coach Bill Croskey and Volunteer Assistant Coach Braden Brown. It is not necessarily that Jesuit Rugby was not left in capable hands, but the opposition was coached by Mike Brown, a leading force in the Major League Rugby (MLR) youth team scene. In the 2021 Jesuit Rugby season, after a short stint with the Dallas Jackals, Mike Brown took a coaching job under Matt Upton and ended up as one of the main reasons behind the state and regional championship run that season.

Since then, Mike Brown re-entered the MLR, playing for the Seattle Seawolves, but shortly returning to Texas to begin forming the Houston Sabercats youth team, the very one which Jesuit played this past Saturday. Brown’s excellent knowledge of rugby and experience make him a great coach. Bringing it back to the match, Brown’s utilization of the rolling subs, which was agreed on by both teams, allowed his players to play at a faster pace than the Rangers, their more explosive playstyle a huge factor in their 38 to 3 win over Jesuit Dallas.

In conclusion, Jesuit’s loss was genuine, but a lot of player sentiments surrounded the idea that this was not their best showing. Finally, Senior Jacob Lehman offered his take on the matchup:

“the Score Did not reflect how well We played. I know we can bounce back in the Future.”

Stay tuned to the Jesuit Roundup for more sports coverage!