Jackals hang on to beat Arrows for first franchise victory

Dallas have done it. After 22 consecutive defeats, the Jackals at last have their first ever franchise victory. Despite conceding the majority of possession and territory to Toronto, the home side held on to take a 14-11 result over the Arrows at Choctaw Stadium on Saturday night.

The early moments of the game were indicative of how things would go. Toronto controlled field position and won an attacking lineout, but the Jackals were ready and after sacking the jumper Jerónimo Gómez Vara got over the ball to win a turnover. Eventually a penalty gave Sam Malcolm a shot at the posts and he would find his target to get the Arrows on the board first.

Fabian Goodall’s line break put the Dallas defense on high alert. Again the attack was disrupted when Nazareno Valentini swatted the ball back towards his own team. Instead the first try went to the Jackals. Sam Golla shook off the challenge of Mitch Eadie and then sprinted 40 meters upfield, stepping past the cover to finish a superb individual effort under the posts.

Toronto stayed on the attack but the turnovers continued to pile up for Dallas. Inaccuracy yielded a second chance for Malcolm and he made good again. It looked as though a try would finally come for the visitors before halftime but Alejandro Torres was quickest to the breakdown and the penalty went his way, with the Jackals taking a precarious 7-6 lead into the break.

Injuries continued to plague the Arrows as Eadie and Tyler Rowland exited the match at halftime. That did not affect the game plan, however, and the pressure stayed on. A long breakout was spoiled by a knock-on, and then a lineout drive was stopped short. Ross Braude took it upon himself to find a gap, and the scrumhalf slipped through from a meter out to give the visitors a four-point lead.

When Dallas got their hands on the ball a penalty gave Martin Elías a chance to plug the corner, and his touch-finder was inch-perfect. Dewald Kotze found his target in Conrado Roura and the forwards did the rest, with Kotze getting the credit for the try and Elías knocking over the extra two. Juan Pablo Zeiss won a breakdown penalty to five Elías a crack at the posts from 40 meters. The flyhalf didn’t strike the ball cleanly and was well off the mark.

Lolani Faleiva and Isaac Salmon were now off, leaving the Arrows with starting hooker Ramón Ayarza at loosehead prop and reserve loosehead Nik Hildebrand at tighthead. The Jackals won a scrum penalty against the head, but the ensuing attack came to nothing when the ball was knocked on just a few meters out from the Toronto line.

Both teams had possession in the dying minutes and each side made mistakes, handing the ball straight back. Another chance for the Arrows yielded a penalty well within Malcolm’s range. The decision was to go for the corner instead of the posts, and when the Jackals stopped the maul dead in its tracks the final whistle blew sending the players into elation.

The Jackals can celebrate long into the night with a bye week before they return to action against the Houston SaberCats on Saturday, April 15th. For the Arrows the long road trip has come to a close for now and they now have their season opener against New York next Saturday to look forward to.

 

SCORING

DALLAS 14
Tries (2) – S. Golla (20′), D. Kotze (58′)
Cons (2) – No kick (20′), M. Elías 1/1 (59′)
Pens (0) – M. Elias 0/1

TORONTO 11
Tries (1) – R. Braude (48′)
Cons (0) – S. Malcolm 0/1
Pens (2) – S. Malcolm 2/2 (18′, 33′)

 

TEAMS

DALLAS JACKALS
1 Liam Murray (16 Alex Tucci 72′), 2 Tomás Baravalle (17 Dewald Kotze 50′), 3 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 4 Sam Golla, 5 Lucas Bur (20 Cameron Nelson 10′-11′), 6 Jerónimo Gómez Vara (capt.), 7 Conrado Roura, 8 Adriaan Booysen, 9 Nazareno Valentini (21 Danny Christensen 67′), 10 Martín Elías, 11 James Vaifale, 12 Alejandro Torres, 13 Tomás Malanos, 14 Lui Sitama, 15 Marcos Moroni

Not used: 18 Kyle Steeves, 19 Carson Shoemaker, 22 Juan Pablo Aguirre, 23 Patrick Medina

TORONTO ARROWS
1 Lolani Faleiva (16 Gene Syminton 61′), 2 Ramón Ayarza, 3 Tyler Rowland (18 Isaac Salmon HT {17 Nik Hildebrand 55′}), 4 Hank Stevenson, 5 Mike Sheppard, 6 Lucas Rumball (capt.), 7 James O’Neill, 8 Mitch Eadie (19 Owain Ruttan 10′-14′, HT), 9 Ross Braude, 10 Sam Malcolm, 11 Avery Oitomen (23 D’Shawn Bowen 55′), 12 Noel Reid, 13 Fabian Goodall, 14 Kobe Faust (22 Dawson Fatoric 67′), 15 Brenden Black

Not used: 20 Jack McRogers, 21 Cole Brown

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Mike Lash (New Zealand)
Assistants: Andrew Low (USA) & Cole Jones (USA)
TMO: Derek Summers (USA)