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The Dallas Jackals have been hit with a crisis after an off-field incident involving a collapsed walking bridge left nine players with injuries. With several players already sidelined and Matt Frings suspended, the club has reached out to other Major League Rugby sides in order to fulfill their fixture obligations.
Henry Trinder’s season is over with surgery scheduled to repair wrist and knee damage, while midfield partner Ned Hodson will miss at least six weeks with his own knee problem. Todd Gleave, Carlo de Nysschen, and Kelly Kolberg are listed as 2-3 weeks on the sidelines with 1-2 weeks of expected absence for Luke Rizzo, Conrado Roura, Alejandro Torres, and Eric Naposki.
Making matters worse are long-term recoveries for Chris Pennell and Jérémy Lenaerts with knee and ankle injuries respectively. With Moe Abdelmonem already scheduled for knee surgery, it means that all three players who have captained the side this season are out for the foreseeable future.
Others on the sidelines include Liam Murray, Sam Phillips, Calvin Gentry, and DeCor Davis. It leaves Dallas with just 20 senior roster players who are fit and available for this weekend’s match against the LA Giltinis.
To help plug the gaps three players have arrived on loan. Chilean international hooker Augusto Böhme arrives from Seattle, USA u20 back row Carson Shoemaker from Utah, and promising center or wing Jack Webster from NOLA.
The Arrows are also hurting with a dozen bodies absent from Sunday’s game against New York. Ross Braude’s first half injury leaves the team with only one fit scrumhalf following Andrew Ferguson’s season-ending hamstring tear and a lower body injury to Cole Brown.
Mason Flesch has been ruled out for the rest of the year with an ACL tear, while winder Brandan Ferguson is still a few weeks away from recovering from an upper body injury. It’s possible that several players could be fit in time for Toronto’s true home opener on Saturday against Rugby ATL, among them second row pair Adrian Wadden and Kyle Baillie.
Old Glory will be without the services of Felix Kalapu for the next two matches. The big flanker received a three-week suspension for a head-high challenge on ATL captain Ryan Nell just second into his MLR debut on March 20. He was initially named in the lineup to face NOLA Gold but was pulled on game day when the suspension was confirmed.
The delay in decision was due to an appeal by Old Glory which was ultimately unsuccessful. As a result Kalapu will miss the games against New York and Toronto. He will be free to play again on April 15 against the Utah Warriors.
This past weekend was an historic one for the league. All five matches were won by the away team! It’s the first time in MLR history that the scales have tipped to the visitors in every match of the round. That includes the inaugural 2018 season when there were no more than three games at once.
