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The Utah Warriors came away winners in their home opener on Saturday afternoon. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, however, as the Dallas Jackals matched them in tries but missed conversions made the final score 33-25 to the home side.
Alarm bells were ringing early for Dallas as Joel Hodgson broke clean up the middle. The ball was flung wide to Mika Kruse, but James Vaifale arrived just in time to prevent what looked a certain try.
It was only a temporary reprieve for the Jackals. They couldn’t clear their lines, and Lasike roared between two uninterested defenders to touch down beside the posts. Hodgson chipped over the extras.
Whatever was said as Dallas regrouped worked a charm. The Jackals regained possession and went through the phases. Dewald Kotze and Lucas Bur made ground, and then Juan Pablo Zeiss crashed over to get the visitors on the board. What looked an easy kick was pushed wide of the uprights by Martín Elías.
Lasike was causing all sorts of problems for the Dallas defense. After another barging run slick hands from Calvin Whiting freed Joe Mano, who in turn offloaded to Caleb Makene for a second try.
A third came soon after when a Lasike offload put Kruse in space, one final pass finding an open Bailey Wilson for the finish. Both tries were converted by Hodgson.
Dallas would get a reply before halftime, again through the pack. Utah’s defense held them out initially but Jerónimo Gómez Vara stretched out from close range to ground the ball over the line. Again the extra two went begging as Adriaan Carelse’s kick was wide.
The two sides went back and forth to start the second half until the stalemate was ended by Utah. Lasike was again the inspiration, the big man putting a cheeky grubber in behind the Dallas defense for Mano to regather for the bonus point try.
With the scoreboard now reading 26-10 to the Warriors, things were looking grim for Dallas but their forwards earned another score. When their driving maul was slowed close to the line, replacement prop Nicolás Revol burrowed in to close the gap just ahead of the hydration break.
Zion Going slipped through to score with a dummy from the base of a ruck with Makene’s conversion making the lead now 18 points. Dallas kept coming, however, and Eric Naposki found the corner on a flat pass from Pedro Imhoff after another maul tied in the defense.
With the clock ticking down an offload from Sam Golla followed by a brilliant piece of footwork from Naposki left Mano for dead and the Jackals winger had his double. Again, however, the flags stayed down on the conversion attempt from Carelse and the visitors settled for one bonus point instead of two.
It’s a short turnaround for the Jackals as they head home to take on the Seawolves next Friday night. Utah hit the road for the historic first game at SeatGeek Stadium against the expansion Chicago Hounds.
SCORING
UTAH 33
Tries (5) – P. Lasike (6′), C. Makene (23′), B. Wilson (29′), J. Mano (53′), Z. Going (63′)
Cons (4) – J. Hodgson 3/3 (7′, 24′, 30′), C. Makene 1/2 (64′)
DALLAS 25
Tries (5) – J. Zeiss (9′), J. Gómez Vara (34′), N. Revol (58′), E. Naposki 2 (68′, 72′)
Cons (0) – M. Elías 0/1, A. Carelse 0/4
TEAMS
UTAH WARRIORS
1 Emerson Prior (17 Franco van den Berg 50′), 2 Tuvere Vugakoto (16 Joey Backe 59′), 3 Paul Mullen (18 Angus MacLellan 50′), 4 Jamie Lane, 5 Saia Uhila (19 Thomas Tu’avao 50′), 6 Lance Williams, 7 Bailey Wilson (capt.) (20 Jeremiah Noaese 59′), 8 Jurie van Vuuren, 9 Connor McLeod (21 Zion Going 59′), 10 Joel Hodgson (23 Cliven Loubser 50′), 11 Joe Mano, 12 Paul Lasike (22 Logan Tago 59′), 13 Calvin Whiting, 14 Mika Kruse, 15 Caleb Makene
DALLAS JACKALS
1 Liam Murray (16 Nicolás Revol 51′), 2 Dewald Kotze (17 Connor Robinson 62′), 3 Juan Pablo Zeiss (18 Kyle Steeves 65′), 4 Sam Golla, 5 Lucas Bur (20 Carson Shoemaker 71′-78′), 6 Conrado Roura, 7 Jerónimo Gómez Vara, 8 Adriaan Booysen (19 Maikeli Naromaitoga 59′ {20 Carson Shoemaker 79′}), 9 Pedro Imhoff (21 Danny Christensen 69′), 10 Martín Elías, 11 James Vaifale (22 Campbell Johnstone 65′), 12 Juan Pablo Aguirre (capt.) (23 Patrick Medina HT), 13 Tomás Malanos, 14 Eric Naposki, 15 Adriaan Carelse
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Marquise Goodwin (USA)
Assistants: Kahlil Harrison (USA) & Matalasi Morrissette (USA)
TMO: Austin Reed (USA)
