
Miscues cost Warriors a chance to upset Houston
HOUSTON — Too many lackadaisical moments again conspired to hand the Utah Warriors another tough loss on Saturday as the team folded late to come away with a 31-27 loss to the Houston Sabercats.
Although Warriors Assistant Coach Shaun Davies was quick to point out where his team fell short, he was also clearly proud of his team’s overall effort.
“We were a ton better, but there were just too many moments…that took us back a bit,” Davies said. “So there’s just a couple of moments where we could have gone away, but let them stay in it close. I’m happy that the boys showed up, physically. We just need to win those moments.”
One of the key moments came late in the first half, where an errant turnover deep in Houston territory gave the Sabercats possession, which in turn accumulated into a try and a 17-17 tie at the break.
Davies focused on that particular moment at the outset of his postgame comments, noting how turning a probable 24-10 lead into a 17-17 tie at the half proved massive in the final outcome.
Despite the tough ending of the first half, Utah came out firing in the second, taking advantage of an issued yellow card to Houston to score a try in the 47th minute. Crossing the try line was Joe Mano with Lance Williams doing most of the work by virtue of a brilliant run and assist for a 22-17 lead.
Utah appeared poised to add on to the lead until a massive miscommunication receiving a Houston kick led to a turnover and a relatively easy Houston try in the 56th minute.
“We knew possession was key, and we gave up too much possession to Houston,” Mano said. “And it led to them scoring too many tries.”
Suddenly down 24-22, the Warriors fought back hard for a late score before giving up a try late to Houston as the home team surged ahead 31-22 with just two minutes remaining.
But true to form, Utah didn’t fold from there, scoring a try on the game’s final possession to receive a couple of bonus points given the 31-27 outcome.
“I’m proud that we’re showing up, but we all have standards, and we need to meet those standards,” Davies said, summing up what he saw throughout the match. “If we don’t meet those standards — it doesn’t matter if we have a playoff run or not — we just have to meet those standards because we know we’re (really) good and we know what we can be.”
With the loss Utah falls to 3-10 on the season and will look to rebound versus Austin at home next Saturday. Attending fans to next week’s game can likely expect Utah to continue working to improve despite its current record with postgame play an impossibility.
“I can see the progress. The boys can see the progress and now we just have to get over the hump,” Davies said. “The fact that the boys are still extremely motivated…We’re a bunch of fighters and now it’s just winning those moments.”
Recent Posts
Warriors down Dallas behind Danny Christensen’s hat trick
DALLAS — No backup for Danny Christensen traveled to take on the
Chad Gough hangs up the boots after a successful rugby career
HERRIMAN — Chad Gough is hanging up his rugby cleats, in what
Warriors fall to LA in final 2022 home match
HERRIMAN — Costly mental errors cost the Utah Warriors big during Saturday’s
How the Warriors’ Defense helped take down MLR’s Top Team
HERRIMAN — In searching how exactly to reboot an otherwise frustrating 2022
Warriors put together complete game, take down Austin
HERRIMAN — Teasing great and consistent play became a thing of the
News Tags
Archives
- June 2022 (2)
- May 2022 (10)
- April 2022 (13)
- March 2022 (16)
- February 2022 (13)
- January 2022 (11)
- December 2021 (2)
- November 2021 (5)
- October 2021 (4)
- September 2021 (3)
- August 2021 (9)
- July 2021 (18)
- June 2021 (30)
- May 2021 (23)
- April 2021 (15)
- March 2021 (13)
- February 2021 (3)
- January 2021 (2)
- December 2020 (3)
- November 2020 (12)
- October 2020 (13)
- September 2020 (5)
- August 2020 (8)
- July 2020 (1)
- June 2020 (4)
- April 2020 (3)
- March 2020 (7)
- February 2020 (13)
- January 2020 (3)
- December 2019 (3)
- November 2019 (7)
- October 2019 (8)
- September 2019 (1)
- August 2019 (1)
- July 2019 (1)
- June 2019 (3)
- May 2019 (10)
- April 2019 (12)
- March 2019 (5)
- February 2019 (6)
- January 2019 (4)
- December 2018 (3)
- September 2018 (1)
- August 2018 (1)
- June 2018 (3)
- May 2018 (8)
- April 2018 (5)
- March 2018 (6)
- February 2018 (6)
- January 2018 (3)
- December 2017 (8)
- November 2017 (5)
- October 2017 (2)
- August 2017 (2)
- July 2017 (1)