Dallas left heartbroken by late Houston comeback

The Dallas Jackals were left heartbroken after watching the Houston SaberCats score three late tries to secure a 38-33 in the first ever home game for Major League Rugby’s newest team. It was a thrilling contest from start to finish that had the Jackals in the lead until the 78th minute.

Dallas earned Houston’s respect early though Adriaan Carelse couldn’t connect on a penalty goal attempt 4 minutes in. Instead it was the SaberCats who scored first, with Gerrie Labuschagne stepping past one and Kisi Unufe showing his strength to wrestle his way to the corner.

Carelse inspired a response with a line break on halfway. Campbell Johnstone and Chad London each came close, but it was a lineout drive that at last rewarded the Jackals with a try. Matt Frings was the man to take the credit with the conversion drawing the scores level.

London looked to have scored on the end of a scintillating set move that freed Henry Trinder in the midfield, but a TMO review revealed an obstruction had helped open the gap. The booth was called into action at the other end soon after and again found that Marcos Moroni’s foot was in touch before he could ground the ball in the corner.

The Jackals went down a man after with Alex Tucci binned for killing the ball in a scoring position. Dallas opted to pull off a winger to replace the prop, and this time Moroni would have a legitimate try on the end of the overlap.

Eric Naposki limped off with what looked like an ankle injury shortly before halftime, but Dallas would soon score their second try through Moe Abdelmonem. Again it was the maul that did the trick, with the flanker on the bottom for the grounding.

Abdelmonem would turn to villain in the eyes of the officials immediately after the restart. Christian Dyer took exception to being cleared out at a ruck and after the two exchanged slaps the incident was referred to the TMO. The inexplicable result was a yellow card for Abdelmonem, leaving Dallas again shorthanded to start the second half.

Houston conceded a free kick in their own end shortly after the restart and the Jackals took full advantage. Mike Matarazzo kept his legs moving in a tackle and with a little help from his friends crossed the line. The big flanker appeared to be held up, but this time the TMO saw enough evidence to overturn the on-field decision and award a try to Dallas.

Matarazzo almost had a double soon after when Houston made a hash of a bouncing ball near their goal line. Once again video review was summoned and though the try was not awarded, a forearm from Labuschagne connecting with the face of Aaron Gray was spotted in the build-up and the SaberCats fullback was dismissed with a red card. When play continued the Dallas pack again outmuscled their opposites and Conrado Roura tore from the back of the maul to score the bonus-point try.

The two sides exchanged tries following the hour mark. Danny Barrett repeated Roura’s effort with his own burst from a driving maul. At the other end Jérémy Lenaerts kept the ball alive and then Carelse probed with Roura taking the scoring pass from Ryan Bower to give Dallas a 33-21 lead.

Replacements streamed into the match and then the SaberCats suddenly sprung into life. Jax Hidalgo scored twice in a span of five minutes. The first saw the winger barging through a tackle on the short side of a maul, the second was on the end of a long-range attack that started when Dallas coughed up the ball at a ruck inside Houston territory.

With time expired it was another sloppy breakdown that gave possession back to the visitors. David Coetzer broke free and found Dillon Smit alongside. The scrumhalf fired a wide ball that was acrobatically reeled in by Gideon van Wyk, and then Christian Dyer muscled his way forward with his outstretched arm just long enough to reach the line.

Both teams will play home games next Saturday. The Jackals welcome Rugby New York to Choctaw Stadium, while the SaberCats take on the San Diego Legion at AVEVA Stadium.

 

SCORING

DALLAS 33
Tries – M. Frings (20′), M. Abdelmonem (37′), M. Matarazzo (45′), C. Roura 2 (48′, 65′)
Cons – A. Carelse 4/5 (21′, 46′, 49′, 66′)
Pens – A. Carelse 0/1
YC – A. Tucci (28′), M. Abdelmonem (39′)

HOUSTON 38
Tries – K. Unufe (10′), M. Moroni (29′), D. Barrett (61′), J. Hidalgo 2 (73′, 78′), C. Dyer (80′)
Cons – D. Coetzer 3/5 (11′, 30′, 62′), No kick (78′)
RC – G. Labuschagne (48′)

 

TEAMS

DALLAS JACKALS
1 Liam Murray (17 Ryan Bower 60′), 2 Matt Frings (16 Luke Rizzo 71′), 3 Alex Tucci (18 Tommy Madaras 64′), 4 Bronson Teles (19 Adriaan Booysen 50′), 5 Jérémy Lenaerts, 6 Mike Matarazzo, 7 Moe Abdelmonem (capt.) (20 Calvin Gentry 68′), 8 Conrado Roura, 9 Carlo de Nysschen (21 Tom Brusati 78′), 10 Adriaan Carelse, 11 Aaron Gray (18 Tommy Madaras 28′-38′) (23 Dylan James 66′), 12 Chad London, 13 Henry Trinder, 14 Campbell Johnstone, 15 Eric Naposki (22 Ned Hodson 35′)

HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Nicolás Solveyra (17 Frikkie de Beer 57′), 2 Dean Muir (capt.), 3 Aaron Mitchell (18 Pono Davis 57′), 4 Keni Nasoqeqe, 5 Will Crawford (19 Wynand Grassmann 50′), 6 Danny Barrett, 7 Willie Britz (22 Robbie Povey 55′), 8 Jaco Bezuidenhout, 9 Dillon Smit, 10 David Coetzer, 11 Marcos Moroni, 12 Matai Leuta, 13 Christian Dyer, 14 Kisi Unufe (23 Jax Hidalgo 53′), 15 Gerrie Labuschagne (20 Gideon van Wyk 68′)

Not used: 16 Patrick Donovan, 21 Zachary Short

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Scott Green (USA)
Assistants: Derek Summers (USA) & Cole Jones (USA)
TMO: Kahlil Harrison (USA)

 

Attendance: 3,152