The Houston SaberCats are an American professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

team based in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, Texas. The team was founded in 2017 and competes in

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Off ...

, the top-level rugby union competition in the United States and Canada 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

Houston plays their games in

Aveva Stadium Aveva Stadium is a rugby union stadium in Houston, Texas, United States as part of Houston Sports Park and is the home of the Houston SaberCats of Major League Rugby. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on July 24, 2018. Naming rights for t ...

, 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 Houston Sports Park is an urban park that serves as a multi-purpose sports and entertainment facility in the Five Corners District of Houston near the neighborhood of City Park. Houston Sports Park (HSP) houses Aveva Stadium, which is the home o ...

. On July 17, the SaberCats announced naming rights were awarded to British multinational software and technology company

Aveva AVEVA Group plc is a British multinational information technology consulting company headquartered in Cambridge, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The company started as the Comp ...

. Houston Sports Park is also the permanent training ground for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

soccer team

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo FC (formerly officially, but still commonly, called the Houston Dynamo) is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The Dynamo compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Establi ...

as well as the

Houston Dash The Houston Dash is a professional women's soccer team based in Houston, Texas. It joined the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in the 2014 season, and is affiliated with the MLS team Houston Dynamo FC. History Establishment On November ...

women's soccer team. During the 2018 regular season, the SaberCats played their home matches at

Dyer Stadium Dyer often refers to: * Dyer (occupation), a person who is involved in dyeing Dyer may also refer to: Places * Dyer, Arkansas, a town * Dyer, Indiana, a town ** Dyer (Amtrak station) * Dyer, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in Breckinridge ...

and trained at Athlete Training and Health in Houston. The team also played at

Constellation Field Constellation Field is a baseball park located in Sugar Land, Texas. It is the home of the Sugar Land Space Cowboys of the Pacific Coast League, who began play in 2012 as the Sugar Land Skeeters. The park also has the ability to host rugby uni ...

, home of the

Sugar Land Skeeters The Sugar Land Space Cowboys are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros Major League Baseball club. They are located in Sugar Land, Texas, part of the Greater Houston metr ...

, 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.

Broadcasts

*2019 home games were shown on

KUBE-TV KUBE-TV (channel 57) is a television station licensed to Baytown, Texas, United States, serving the Houston area. Owned by WRNN-TV Associates, it airs programming from ShopHQ. KUBE-TV's studios are located on Fountain View Drive and Burgoyne Ro ...

an independent station in

Sponsorship

Players and personnel

Current squad

The Houston SaberCats squad for the 2022 Major League Rugby season is: * Senior 15s internationally capped players are listed in bold. * * denotes players qualified to play for the on dual nationality or residency grounds. * MLR teams are allowed to field up to ten overseas players per match.

Current Coaching staff

* Pote Human (Head Coach) *

Campbell Johnstone Campbell Johnstone (born 7 January 1980) is a New Zealand international rugby union player who plays for Biarritz Olympique in the Top 14. In December 2012 he joined Welsh regional team Ospreys until the end of the 2012/13 season, going straig ...

(Assistant Coach – forwards) * Ashley Dixon (Strength & Conditioning Coach)

Head coaches

Justin Fitzpatrick Justin Michael Fitzpatrick (born 21 November 1973) is an Irish former rugby union player who most recently was head coach of the Houston SaberCats of Major League Rugby (MLR). He previously played for London Irish, Castres Olympique, Dungannon ...

(2017–2019) *

Paul Emerick Paul Emerick (born January 24, 1980) is the head coach of the American Raptors in Glendale, Colorado. He was the defense and skills coach and the 2019 interim head coach for the Houston SaberCats of Major League Rugby. He was a former USA intern ...

(2019) * Paul Healy (2020–2021) * Pote Human (2022–Present)

Former Assistant Coaches

* Sam Windsor (Backs – 2017–2019) *

(Backs – 2017–2020) *

Matt Trouville Matthew "Matt" Trouville (born 6 September 1986 in Darlinghurst, New South Wales) is an Australian-American former rugby union player who played flanker for the Houston SaberCats in Major League Rugby (MLR) and also for the United States Eagles ...

(Lineouts – 2017–2019) * Neil Kelly (Defense – 2019) *

Darren Morris Darren Morris (born 24 September 1974) is a former Wales international rugby union player who also represented the British & Irish Lions. He moved to Texas in 2015 as Director of Rugby for Griffins Rugby in Dallas, Texas, USA. Club career Mo ...

(Forwards – 2019)

Captains

Kyle Sumsion Kyle Sumsion (born 29 October 1993) is an American professional rugby union player. He plays as a flanker for Rugby United New York (RUNY) in Major League Rugby (MLR). Professional career In 2014, Sumsion represented the United States national ...

(2018) *

(2019) *

De Wet Roos De Wet Roos (born 10 June 1990) is a South African-born Australian Rugby Union player for the Houston SaberCats in Major League Rugby (MLR). He currently is a referee for USA Rugby USA Rugby (officially the United States of America Rugby ...

(2020) *

Luke Beauchamp Luke Beauchamp (born 8 October 1992) is an Australian professional rugby union player. He currently plays for the Austin Gilgronis. He played as a flanker for the Chicago Hounds in Major League Rugby (MLR) previously playing for the Houston Saber ...

(2021) (co-captain) *

Dean Muir Dean Muir (born 6 February 1989) is a South African rugby union player currently playing hooker position for the Houston SaberCats in Major League Rugby (MLR) where he is team captain. He previously played for the San Diego Legion of the MLR. C ...

(2022–)

Records

Season standings

2018 season

Exhibition

Regular season

2019 season

Exhibition

Regular season

2020 season

On March 12, 2020, MLR announced the season would go on hiatus immediately for 30 days due to fears surrounding the 2019–2020 coronavirus pandemic. It was cancelled the following week

Regular season

2021 season

Regular season

2022 season

Regular season

Post season

References

{{Houston SaberCats squad Major League Rugby teams Rugby union teams in Texas Rugby union in Houston Sports in Houston 2017 establishments in Texas Rugby clubs established in 2017