Warriors Drop First Game Of The Season At Home V Houston

HERRIMAN — The Utah Warriors took a tough punch to the nose on Saturday in the form of a 37-17 loss to the visiting Houston Sabercats.

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Too many inaccuracies and other execution errors on top of some defensive lapses opened the floodgates for the Sabercats who led throughout the final 74 minutes of the match.

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“We were far too inaccurate today. We had a lot of dropped balls,” said Utah Warriors Coach Greg Cooper. “Up front I thought we were okay. Our line-out was good. Our scrum was good, but we were very inaccurate in our attack today…Too many mistakes.”

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Perhaps most notable of the mistakes was during the 72nd minute when Utah was staging a bit of a comeback although down 34-17. Fullback Jordan Trainor executed a brilliant run out just past midfield which ultimately led to a would-be try that was disallowed due to a forward pass that wasn’t necessary.

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Other execution errors came late on top of the grievous one in the 72nd minute, preventing Utah from scoring a critical fourth try for a bonus point. It all left Cooper and his team not the least bit frustrated after.

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“There were a couple of decisions where we didn’t read the situation very well,” Cooper said. “...So there was some (poor) decision making and execution, and we paid the price today.”

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Houston set the tone early, scoring a try in the seventh minute before following it up with a penalty kick for a 10-0 lead in the 14th minute.

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Utah responded 13 minutes later with Tonga Kofe dotting the ball down in the try zone following a successful line-out. But the next 10 points went Houston’s way, placing Utah at a 20-5 deficit at the half.

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The Warriors had ample opportunity to cut into Houston’s lead right before the half, but a long run-out saw Joe Mano with the ball on the edge within one meter of the try zone before being forced out during the 41st minute.

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Houston got off early in the second half, scoring a try in the 48th minute before momentum seemed to switch Utah’s way following an issued red card to the Sabercats in the 51st minute. Just a minute later saw Nic Benn score a try after an effective offload from Joel Hodgson to cut the lead to 27-10 following an unsuccessful conversion kick.

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But things unraveled from there with Houston taking advantage of a Utah defensive lapse in the 55th minute to push the lead to 34-10.

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Utah surged back, however with Hodgson scoring a try in the 69th minute to cut the lead to 34-17, but that’s as close as the game would get after multiple attacks were snuffed out late.

All of it left Cooper a bit dour and direct to the point during postgame interviews.

“It’s early in the competition, and we were certainly punched in the nose,” Cooper said. “But we have to react fairly quickly.”

With the loss Utah falls to 2-1 with 10 points on the season and will next travel to take on the Miami Sharks on March 15. Houston improves to 3-1 with 15 points on the season with the win.

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