Saturday is a rugby day in Houston once again as the 2025 Major League Rugby Season kicks off with the Houston SaberCats hosting the Chicago Hounds at SaberCats Stadium.
The Cats are looking to build off a strong 2024 campaign that saw them finish atop the Western Conference in the regular season with a 14-2 record. Flyhalf Davy Coetzer led the team in points scored with 77 last year and is back again for the 2025 campaign.
__________ is a rugby day
— Major League Rugby (@usmlr) February 14, 2025
Opening Weekend kicks off Saturday 5:00PM ET on ESPN+
Schedule + Tickets: https://t.co/rn9VI0ZlLf #MLR2025 pic.twitter.com/W2pPTCbmBD
Houston’s first opponent of the 2025 season secured a playoff berth as the third-place team in the Eastern Conference last year, winning their first-round matchup over the NOLA Gold before falling to the eventual champion New England Free Jacks in the conference finals.
The two teams did meet in the preseason with the SaberCats claiming a 61-19 victory. We’ll see if they can duplicate that result tomorrow night when the regular season begins.
How to Watch the Houston SaberCats
Saturday 02/15, 7:00 p.m. CT on CW39 Houston or ESPN+
Rugby 101
Players are divided into forwards and backs. The numbers matter for starters as that will indicate what position they play.
Forwards
#1 – Tighthead Prop
#2 – Hooker
#3 – Loosehead Prop
#4 – Lock
#5 – Lock
#6 – Blindside Flanker
#7 – Openside Flanker
#8 – No. 8
Backs
#9 – Scrumhalf
#10 – Flyhalf
#11 – Left Wing
#12 – Inside Center
#13 – Outside Center
#14 – Right Wing
#15 – Fullback
Next up, what you would think of as a touchdown in football is a try in rugby – and the ball must be quite literally touched down to count as a try (funnily enough this is where the gridiron football term touchdown comes from). A try is worth five points.
After a try, instead of a PAT, we have the conversion. If the kick goes through the uprights it’s worth two points instead of the one in gridiron football.
Passes can only be backward, a forward pass results in a stoppage of play and a loss of possession. Kicking forward is legal, however.
I won’t get into mauls, rucks, scrums, and lineouts here but keep an eye out for these key components of the game that occur when a ball is knocked on or a penalty occurs.
Stay tuned in to Apollo for more rugby coverage this season and follow us for more content!
