Hounds Hit Road for Clash with 'Cats: Week 12 Preview

News May-16-2024

Hounds Hit Road for Clash with ‘Cats: Week 12 Preview

CHICAGO, IL- Hounds Head Coach Sam Harris named his roster for Week 12 action of Major League Rugby. The Chicago Hounds (5-4-1) travel to Houston, Texas for battle with the 9-1 Sabercats. Chicago is coming off a one-point loss at home to Old Glory DC and sits in second place on the Eastern Conference standings. Meanwhile, Houston enters the game after a big win against the Carolina Anthem.

The Forwards

The tight five remains unchanged from last week’s one-point loss. Charlie Abel will start his sixth consecutive game at loosehead prop, pairing with tighthead prop Paddy Ryan again. Meanwhile, hooker Dylan Fawsitt will pack down in between them, earning his 91st MLR cap and 80th MLR start. This is the trio’s third consecutive start together.

The duo of George Merrick and James Scott will get another start in the second row. Merrick started five out of his seven appearances on the season and contributed 50 tackles on defense. Scott has appeared in nine games, all starts, and is credited with 83 tackles on the year, second highest on the team.

Ben Landry is recalled to the starting lineup after appearing from the bench in the loss last week. It will be the versatile forward’s fifth start of the campaign and seventh overall appearance. Incumbent blindside flanker Maclean Jones gets his ninth consecutive start of the season on Saturday. He currently leads the team with 119 tackles, over thirty more than the next Hounds player.

Conall Boomer rounds out the back row for Week 12. The 6’4” Irish prospect has seven caps on the season to go along with his four starts. He’s credited with 43 tackles, including a pair of dominant tackles, on his 49 tackle attempts. Boomer added 214 meters on 41 carries (5.2 meters-per-carry).

Sam Harris opted for a 6-2 split on the bench this weekend, going with this configuration for the first time in a few weeks. Janus Venter is recalled into the squad as the backup hooker, wearing No. 16. Once again, Fred Apulu and Uruguayan international Ignacio Peculo suit up as reserve props. Versatile forwards Mason Flesch and Brad Tucker will wear the No. 19 and No. 20 jerseys, respectively. The old war horse Luke White will seek his 75th MLR cap from the bench in the No. 23 shirt.

The Backs

Nick McCarthy enters the starting lineup for the first time since week six at New Orleans. The capped-US Eagle has completed 94% of his passes this season, connecting on 337 out of his 359 attempts. Across the entire league, only two scrumhalves completed 94% or more of their pass attempts (minimum 350 pass attempts).

Bryce Campbell will make his fifth consecutive start on Saturday, but will be shifting to inside center in absence of captain Billy Meakes, on paternity leave. He’s been given the role of gameday captain for the contest against Houston. Campbell scored his first try as a Chicago Hound in last week’s game, finishing the day with 44 meters on nine carries.

Mark O’Keeffe joins Campbell in the midfield, making his first start since week six. Despite the limited touches in the first half of the season, the Irish center still leads the team in clean breaks (7) and sits third in meters gained (424), just behind Meakes and Augspurger. Defensively, he’s completed 27 of his 30 tackle attempts.

Luke Carty returns to action and gets the nod at fullback, displacing Dave Kearney to the bench for Saturday. This will be Carty’s fourth start of the season. The bench features only two backs this week: the aforementioned Kearney, wearing No. 21, and center Cassh Maluia, wearing No. 22.