Austin Elite came back to beat the Houston Sabercats in a Major League Rugby preseason friendly at Constellation Field just outside Houston.

The game was somewhat error-strewn, but also a hard-bitten battle of attrition.

The first five minutes saw a slew of penalties for Austin, driving the Elite quickly into the Houston 22. A solid lineout and strong carries led to an opportunity for debutant Andres Vilaseca to go over, but he was hit as he crossed the tryline and knocked the ball on.

The next 20 minutes saw both sides trading blows with most of the territory coming from penalties. A loose kick from Austin scrumhalf Mickael Romera allowed Houston’s Fijian flyer Joshua Vici a golden opportunity to counterattack. After beating multiple defenders, Vici linked with Zach Pangelinan, who was in for the first try of the game.

That was it for the scoring in the first half, as the physical play forced knock-ons and kept scoring opportunities to a minimum.

It was much of the same in the second half, with the teams spending most of the time in the middle of the field. Finally, a defensive error allowed Houston to break through. Austin's cover defense was there, but a penalty led to a scrum, and from there Houston scored on an eight-man pick.

Austin rebounded after that. The forwards worked the phases carefully and patiently, and then Romera worked a nifty move with captain Ben Mitchell to send Mitchell over. Romera converted and it was 10-7.

Pressure from the Austin forwards set up another try 10 minutes later. This time it was defensive pressure that forced a turnover and allowed the Elite to spin the ball and score out wide. Romera was good on the kick to make it 14-10 for the Elite.

The last 15 minutes saw both teams create scoring opportunities, but mistakes and some solid defense kept the score low.

While overall the game wasn't exactly pretty, it was likely a harbinger of the physicality players can expect when the MLR season kicks off in two weeks.