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NOLA Gold survived a second half surge from the Dallas Jackals to take a 32-26 win at Choctaw Stadium on Saturday evening. A dominant first half suggested that the visitors would pull away in the second, but instead it was the home side who clawed back to within three points until the final play.
The first try came five minutes into the game. Adriaan Booysen was pinged for a high tackle, with the Gold opting for an attacking lineout. Pressure from the forwards resulted in Ignacio Dotti crashing over to score, with Carl Meyer adding the extra two points.
An enormous driving maul that started outside the Dallas 22-meter line ended with Eric Howard crossing the line. Harley Wheeler crushed Conrado Roura in a tackle that knocked the Jackals flanker out of the game with a shoulder knock. JP du Plessis then added insult to injury, the center taking a scoring pass from Robbie Coleman in for the try.
Dallas would get on the board just before halftime. NOLA conceded a series of penalties which brought them back to their goal line. After a couple phases on attack Adriaan Carelse’s skip pass found Eric Naposki loitering on his opposite wing to score in the left corner.
The second half started strongly for the Gold. Their forwards continued to dominate and clean ball for Coleman saw the flyhalf missing out two players for Meyer to score the bonus point try. The fullback converted his own as NOLA stretched away to a 24-7 lead.
Replacements injected some life into the Dallas pack. Tom Brusati broke down the short side from a scrum, with Chris Pennell, Cael Hodgson, and Shawn Clark making further progress. Alex Tucci took a flat ball and barged straight through the tackle attempt of Maciu Koroi for Dallas’ second try.
A scrum taken against the head gave Damian Stevens the easiest of finishes after a short pass from Cam Dolan. Within moments the Jackals responded, however, when Ned Hodson’s grubber sat up in-goal for Alejandro Torres to dive onto.
It was a brilliant individual score for Torres that set off alarm bells for NOLA. The Argentine cut back inside and stepped through the defense to score under the posts and suddenly the score was 29-26 with 10 minutes to play. It wasn’t enough to complete the comeback as the Gold pushed back into Dallas territory to earn a chip-shot for Meyer with the clock reading full-time.
Both sides will play home games next Saturday. Dallas will host the Seattle Seawolves with the Gold taking on Rugby New York at the Gold Mine.
SCORING
DALLAS 26
Tries – E. Naposki (38′), A. Tucci (55′), A. Torres 2 (62′, 70′)
Cons – A. Carelse 2/3 (56′, 63′), No kick (70′)
NOLA 32
Tries – I. Dotti (5′), E. Howard (22′), J. du Plessis (32′), C. Meyer (45′), D. Stevens (60′)
Cons – C. Meyer 2/5 (6′, 46′)
Pens – C. Meyer 1/1 (80′)
TEAMS
DALLAS JACKALS
1 Ryan Bower (17 Timmy Ohlwein 61′), 2 Matt Frings, 3 Tommy Madaras (18 Alex Tucci 44′), 4 Bronson Teles, 5 Jérémy Lenaerts, 6 Mike Matarazzo, 7 Conrado Roura (19 Shawn Clark 31′ {20 Romain Gadeaux 50′-54′}), 8 Adriaan Booysen, 9 Tom Brusati (21 Dylan James 52′), 10 Adriaan Carelse, 11 Cael Hodgson (22 Campbell Johnstone 76′), 12 Ned Hodson, 13 Alejandro Torres, 14 Eric Naposki (23 Christian Adams 72′), 15 Chris Pennell (capt.)
Not used: 16 Todd Gleave
NOLA GOLD
1 Matt Harmon (17 Kevin Sullivan 47′), 2 Eric Howard (16 Pat O’Toole 47′), 3 Brian Nault (18 James Irey 61′), 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Billy Stewart (19 William Waguespack 21′), 6 Moni Tonga’uiha, 7 Devin Short (20 Maciu Koroi 52′), 8 Cam Dolan (capt.), 9 Damian Stevens (21 Cian Barry 68′), 10 Robbie Coleman, 11 Nick Feakes (23 Ross Depperschmidt 68′), 12 JP du Plessis (22 Aaron Matthews 52′), 13 Juan Cappiello, 14 Harley Wheeler, 15 Carl Meyer
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Marquise Goodwin (USA)
Assistants: De Wet Roos (USA) & Shawn Martin (USA)
TMO: Luke Rogan (USA)
