Legion put Jackals to the sword in Texas

The Legion put the Dallas Jackals to the sword on Saturday night, taking a 53-14 result at Choctaw Stadium. San Diego overwhelmed their opponents with eight tries scored and two against.

Jale Railala won a turnover in the shadow of his posts to stop an early Dallas attack. San Diego took a lineout, and immediately throw the ball wide left with three sets of hands making inroads before a final scoring pass from Jason Higgins to Chris Robshaw.

Will Hooley converted, and added a penalty goal after the Jackals held up what was nearly San Diego’s second try. It was only a temporary delay for the Legion. Herman Agenbag saw yellow for killing the ball in a scoring position, and seconds later Peter Malcolm touched down at the back of a lineout drive.

A yellow card to Tiaan Loots for a high tackle evened the two sides at 14 men apiece. The Jackals took advantage of the overlap out wide with Juan Pablo Aguirre, in his Dallas debut, on the end of Chris Pennell’s double miss-out. Pennell converted to make it a full seven.

San Diego struck back immediately. Malcolm took an offload from Hencus van Wyk and broke clean up the middle, passing to Higgins on his left for a 40-meter run-in. The bonus point was secured by Ben Mitchell after good work from Michael Smith, Ryan Matyas, and Tomas Aoake.

Two minutes into the second half Matyas touched down for try number five, after Ma’a Nonu was stopped just inches short. It was Malcolm with his second in a carbon copy of his first try shortly after. Hooley converted both to make it 43-7 with a half-hour still to play.

Matoko Noudéhou had earlier come on for Eric Naposki, and the big center bashed his way through two would-be tackler to score from 20 meters out. A reply came from Matías Freyre after Matyas, who had shifted to scrumhalf, put Dallas on the back foot with a scything break from a wheeled scrum.

Both teams finished the game with only 13 men on the pitch. Loots limped off with a lower leg problem, and then Morani was carried to the sidelines with what looked like a knee injury. Yellow cards were then brandished to Asa Carter for team infringements and Tommy Madaras for a shoulder charge. Chris Baumann grabbed a tipped throw-in and dove over for a try to close out the match.

It’s Sunday games for the two sides next week. San Diego are at home for a pivotal contest against the Houston SaberCats. Dallas are on the road against the Seattle Seawolves.

 

SCORING

DALLAS 14
Tries – J. Aguirre (23′), M. Noudéhou (59′)
Cons – C. Pennell 2/2 (24′, 60′)
YC – H. Agenbag (15′), A. Carter (75′), T. Madaras (78′)

SAN DIEGO 53
Tries – C. Robshaw (4′), P. Malcolm 2 (16′, 48′), J. Higgins (26′), B. Mitchell (31′), R. Matyas (42′), M. Freyre (67′), C. Baumann (80′)
Cons – W. Hooley 5/6 (5′, 27′, 32′, 43′, 49′), J. Pietersen 0/2
Pens – W. Hooley 1/1 (11′)
YC – T. Loots (20′)

 

TEAMS

DALLAS JACKALS
1 Liam Murray (16 Timmy Ohlwein 50′), 2 Matt Frings (17 Patrick Donovan 64′), 3 Herman Agenbag (18 Tommy Madaras 64′), 4 Campbell Robinson (20 Romain Gadeaux 56′), 5 Charlie Hola (19 Bronson Teles 56′), 6 Asa Carter, 7 Conrado Roura, 8 Adriaan Booysen (18 Tommy Madaras 20′-25′), 9 Carlo de Nysschen (21 Tom Brusati 66′), 10 Chris Pennell (capt.), 11 Juan Pablo Aguirre (23 Kurtis Werner 27′), 12 Campbell Johnstone, 13 Cael Hodgson, 14 Eric Naposki (22 Matoko Noudéhou 43′), 15 Hayden Hill

SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Nathan Sylvia (17 Joe Walsh 50′), 2 Peter Malcolm (16 Pat Lynott 60′), 3 Hencus van Wyk (18 Chris Baumann 50′), 4 Jale Railala (20 Chris Turori 55′), 5 Ben Mitchell, 6 Chris Robshaw, 7 Michael Smith, 8 Dan Pryor (19 Jonah Dietenberger 66′), 9 Jason Higgins (23 Kainoa Lloyd 55′), 10 Will Hooley (21 Joe Pietersen 66′), 11 Tomas Aoake, 12 Ma’a Nonu (capt.) (**22 Thomas Morani 50′), *13 Tiaan Loots, 14 Ryan Matyas, 15 Matías Freyre

*13 Tiaan Loots left the field at 70 minutes and could not be replaced
**22 Thomas Morani left the field at 75 minutes and could not be replaced

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Moe Chaudhry (Canada)
Assistants: De Wet Roos (USA) & Cole Jones (USA)
TMO: Jack Gohl (Australia)