San Diego scrapes by Dallas at Sports Deck

The San Diego Legion escaped with a 37-29 win over the Dallas Jackals at the Sports Deck on Saturday afternoon. From the start it was a scrappy affair with the lethargic and ill-disciplined Legion scoring three tries in the final quarter to overcome a 9-point deficit.

It was Dallas who got on the scoreboard first with Adrian Carelse landing an early penalty goal. The Legion came straight back and were awarded a penalty try when Carlo de Nysschen was ruled to have deliberately slapped the ball down to prevent a certain score.

Despite being shorthanded it was again the Jackals who pressed ahead though Carelse missed a shot at the posts. He would get another opportunity soon which he made good on but not before the Legion lost flyhalf Will Hooley to a groin injury, replaced by Patrick Madden.

With Hooley gone the kicking duties were handed to Matías Freyre. The fullback landed a long-range penalty goal after the hydration break. San Diego then lost another player as Peter Malcolm took a head knock in a tackle, with Matt Moulds replacing the injured hooker.

A frantic few minutes before halftime saw Henry Trinder running straight through an apathetic Legion midfield to score under the posts. Freyre replied with a penalty kick, but it was erased by Carelse who landed his third three-pointer after Moe Abdelmonem had been held-up in-goal.

The Legion were further disrupted by injuries to flankers Chris Robshaw and Dan Pryor early in the second half, but they managed to cross for a try when Madden stretched out of a tackle. Two points were added by Freyre to make it 20-16 for the home side.

Within seconds of the restart Carelse landed his fourth penalty goal, and then added a fifth. The Jackals made it 13 unanswered points with Eric Naposki danced passed a couple defenders before passing to fellow winger Aaron Gray, who in turn found Conrado Roura on his inside for a 50-meter sprint to the line. Carelse’s conversion gave Dallas a 29-20 lead with under 20 minutes to play.

Whatever was said under the posts seemed to bring San Diego back to life. Madden poked a grubber behind the defensive line which was recovered by Michael Smith. The flanker offloaded to Bjorn Basson, with the left winger showing his pace to burst around the outside and score in the corner.

Two more long-range efforts sealed the win for the Legion. Simple hands found Freyre in space, and he freed Ryan Matyas who in turn offloaded to Ben Mitchell for the finish. It was Matyas who would get the honors for the final scoring act on the end of another attack that went through several pairs of hands.

San Diego will ice their wounds before hosting the Seattle Seawolves next Sunday. Dallas can be pleased with 60-odd minutes of competitive rugby, and will look for further improvement in their historic home opener against the Houston SaberCats on Saturday.

 

SCORING

SAN DIEGO 37
Tries – Penalty try (8′), P. Madden (45′), B. Basson (66′), B. Mitchell (69′), R. Matyas (75′)
Cons – No kick 2 (8′, 75′), M. Freyre 1/3 (46′)
Pens – M. Freyre 2/2 (23′, 35′), M. Nonu 0/1

DALLAS 29
Tries – H. Trinder (33′), C. Roura (62′)
Cons – No kick (33′), A. Carelse 1/1 (63′)
Pens – A. Carelse 5/8 (3′, 16′, 39′, 47′, 52′)
YC – C. de Nysschen (8′)

 

TEAMS

SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Nathan Sylvia (17 Paddy Ryan 59′), 2 Peter Malcolm (16 Matt Moulds 30′), 3 Hencus van Wyk (18 Chris Baumann 59′), 4 Ben Mitchell (23 Dom Iacovino 74′), 5 Ben Grant, 6 Chris Robshaw (19 Jonah Dietenberger HT), 7 Dan Pryor (20 Michael Smith HT), 8 Tevita Tameilau, 9 Nate Augspurger, 10 Will Hooley (22 Patrick Madden 13′), 11 Bjorn Basson, 12 Ma’a Nonu (capt.), 13 Thomas Morani, 14 Ryan Matyas, 15 Matías Freyre

Not used: 21 Nico Gilli

DALLAS JACKALS
1 Ryan Bower (20 Romain Gadeaux 71′), 2 Todd Gleave (17 Brendan Rams 59′), 3 Alex Tucci (18 Tommy Madaras 67′), 4 Bronson Teles, 5 Jérémy Lenaerts (19 Sam Phillips 76′), 6 Mike Matarazzo, 7 Moe Abdelmonem (capt.) (16 Matt Frings 58′), 8 Conrado Roura, 9 Carlo de Nysschen (23 Tom Brusati 71′), 10 Adriaan Carelse, 11 Aaron Gray (21 Dylan James 65′), 12 Chad London, 13 Henry Trinder (22 Ned Hodson 53′), 14 Eric Naposki, 15 Campbell Johnstone

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Derek Summers (USA)
Assistants: Jack Gohl (Australia) & Marquise Goodwin (USA)
TMO: Austin Reed (USA)