Utah Warriors drop 1st match of year in 37-17 loss to Houston

HERRIMAN — Houston didn't have a problem in upending the Utah Warriors' perfect start to the season Saturday afternoon.

Drew Wild scored a first-half hat trick for 13 points, and David Coetzer totaled a match-high 14 points to help Houston hand the Warriors their first loss of the season, a 37-17 result at Zions Bank Stadium.

Joel Hodgson had a try and a conversion for 7 points to lead Utah (2-1, 10 points), and Tonga Kofe and Nic Benn each added a try for the Warriors.

"We were very inaccurate in our attack today, which is not something we're normally inclined," Utah coach Greg Cooper said. "Just too many mistakes.

"It's early in the competition, it's certainly a punch in the nose, and we've got to react pretty quickly to this. We were good up front, our scrum was good, our lineout was very good, and we didn't do enough of that today."

Angling for the club's first 3-0 start in their eight seasons, the Warriors couldn't have started much worse — or, perhaps more appropriately, the Sabercats (3-1, 13 points) couldn't have started much better.

Wild scored three tries, and the 24-year-old fullback from New Zealand added a drop goal just before the half-hour mark for good measure, as Houston romped to a 20-5 halftime advantage.

Kofe barreled off a scrum and up the Sabercats' defense to score the Warriors' lone try of the first half.

Benn dotted it down against a shorthanded Sabercats in the 52nd minute to pull Utah within 27-10. But Houston responded immediately, scoring three minutes later through Tasi Taulatasi to hold any comeback attempts at bay and keep the Warriors from adding a crucial bonus point for scoring at least four tries.

"We didn't read particularly well," Cooper said. "We had a scrum that we should've gone straight to the backs when they were a man down. We had a lineout move and instead of playing to the edge we played a front ball instead of the edge, and let our man down. Some decision making and some execution, and we paid the price today."

The Warriors hit the road for two weeks beginning next Saturday against the Miami Sharks (4 p.m. MDT, ESPN+) followed by a trip to Seattle on March 22.

Utah returns home March 29 to host the New England Freejacks (7 p.m. MDT, ESPN+).

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