San Diego outsprints Dallas in high-scoring shootout

The San Diego Legion made it a club-high six wins in a row as they scraped past the Jackals by a final score of 47-38 at Choctaw Stadium. Dallas fought back from a 16-point deficit late in the game to make it interesting, but the visitors did just enough to come away with the bonus point victory in a wild shootout that 13 tries split between the two sides.

Dallas had the first opportunity to score, a penalty yielding an attacking lineout. When the maul collapsed, Juan Pablo Zeiss and Conrado Roura each crashed ahead but they were stopped short and Chris Baumann won a turnover. At the other end San Diego were more clinical. The backs made progress and then Isaac Ross got the credit when a lineout drive was a success.

The Jackals had a classy response. It started with Alejandro Torres taking a clearance attempt from Will Hooley. Zeiss made ground contact, then Jerónimo Gómez Vara. Torres slipped through a half-gap, then slick hands put Campbell Johnstone inside the Legion’s 22. Martín Elías spotted a mismatch out wide and fired a picture-perfect cross-kick for Roura to snatch out of the air just above Thomas Morani for a sensational multi-phase team try.

Morani hurt his arm on the play and was replaced by Nate Augspurger. Liam Murray then found himself in hot water after being spotted by a assistant referee dropping a knee onto a Legion player on the deck. From the ensuing lineout a bobbled ball went straight into the hands of Roura. Quick hands down the line sent Marcos Moroni free down the left sideline but Mikey Te’o and Nate Augspurger arrived just in time to drive the Dallas winger into touch.

When the Legion regained possession Tevita Tameilau made ground through traffic, and then Tiaan Loots broke around the outside. The ball was knocked on but San Diego won a scrum penalty and then from the lineout they went wide right where Tomas Aoake was waiting on the end of an overlap to score.

Again there was a riposte from the Jackals. San Diego were pinged for obstruction to put the home side in scoring position. Despite being down a man they manufactured an overlap after going through several phases. Juan Pablo Aguirre freed Tomás Malanos on the right side, and he turned Te’o inside out to finish in the corner from 15 meters out. Elías landed the conversion from wide out to bring the scores level.

It was only seconds before the visitors pushed back out in front. A counter-attack pushed back into Dallas territory and then Augspurger cut back against the grain, spinning and stepping before passing to Jason Higgins in support. The scrumhalf was hauled down just a meter short by Adriaan Booysen but Sean McNulty was there to take the pop pass from Djustice Sears-Duru over for the try.

There was time enough in the half for Dallas to strike back. An offside penalty and then a lineout infringement put the Legion back on their heels. The backs piled into the driving maul but San Diego held out. When the ball came out Zeiss found Malanos looping around and the center stepped past Higgins to dive in under the posts.

San Diego made it look easy with the first try of the second half. Filimoni Waqainabete broke clean through the line on a short ball from Loots. Roura came across to make the cover tackle but Waqainabete casually tossed the ball over his shoulder to a trailing Loots for the simplest of finishes. Next it was Hooley through a gap, with an offload to Aoake. One more pass and Tameilau was barreling over for a fifth try.

Another seven points went up on the board after Tom Franklin regathered a cross-kick from Hooley. Then it was the flyhalf taking on the line himself before connecting with Loots on his inside. The return pass would have sent Hooley in under the posts but Torres stuck out a hand to disrupt. A yellow card to Torres and a penalty try for the Legion was the result.

Jale Railala joined Torres in the bin after illegally collapsing a maul. The drive came on and Booysen came up with the ball to secure the four-try bonus for Dallas. Elías couldn’t land the conversion and the score read 40-24 to the visitors at the hydration break.

Zeiss saw yellow for a no-arms chop tackle on Tameilau. It didn’t bother the Jackals at all. They won a penalty and Gómez Vara tore around the back of a lineout to within 5 meters of the line. When the ball was recycled the captain took it on himself once again to spin and ground the ball just inside the post for a seven-pointer.

A knock-on from Augspurger on an Elias high ball gave the Jackals one more opportunity. Malanos spun through to put the Legion on the retreat, then Matt Gordon blasted his way over the gainline. Waqainabete was binned for cynically slowing the ball down and the lineout drive came on but Gómez Vara was held up over the line by Higgins.

San Diego couldn’t clear their lines, however, and Roura set Johnstone free for a dramatic try with two minutes to play. The conversion from Elías reduced the gap to just two points. It wasn’t to be for the Jackals. The restart was left to bounce and Sama Malolo charged ahead, offloading to Loots for an 80th-minute try. Hooley’s extras cruelly took the losing bonus away from Dallas.

It’s a short turnaround for the Jackals who will travel to Starfire Stadium to play the Seawolves on Friday night. The Legion return home to host the Houston SaberCats on Sunday.

 

SCORING

DALLAS 38
Tries (6) – C. Roura (13′), T. Malanos 2 (31′, 38′), A. Booysen (58′), J. Gómez Vara (73′). C. Johnstone (78′)
Cons (4) – M. Elías 2/4 (32′, 79′), No kick 2 (38′, 73′)
YC (3) – L. Murray (22′), A. Torres (54′), J. Zeiss (67′)

SAN DIEGO 47
Tries (7) – I. Ross (8′), T. Aoake (27′), S. McNulty (33′), T. Loots 2 (45′, 80′), T. Tameilau (48′), Penalty try (54′)
Cons (6) – W. Hooley 5/6 (28′, 34′, 46′, 49′, 80’+1′), No kick (54′)
YC (2) – J. Railala (57′), F. Waqainabete (77′)

 

TEAMS

DALLAS JACKALS
1 Liam Murray, 2 Tomás Baravalle (17 Dewald Kotze 59′), 3 Juan Pablo Zeiss (18 Kyle Steeves 77′), 4 Sam Golla, 5 Lucas Bur (19 Matt Gordon 65′), 6 Jerónimo Gómez Vara (capt.), 7 Conrado Roura, 8 Adriaan Booysen (20 Cameron Nelson 69′), 9 Pedro Imhoff, 10 Martín Elías, 11 Marcos Moroni, 12 Juan Pablo Aguirre (22 Lui Sitama 56′), 13 Tomás Malanos, 14 Campbell Johnstone (16 Alex Tucci 26′-32′) (18 Kyle Steeves 69′-77′), 15 Alejandro Torres (23 James Vaifale 64′)

Not used: 21 Danny Christensen

SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Djustice Sears-Duru (17 Faka’osi Pifeleti 59′), 2 Sean McNulty (16 Sama Malolo 59′), 3 Chris Baumann (18 Nathan Sylvia 59′), 4 Jale Railala (19 Chris Turori 67′), 5 Isaac Ross (20 Finn Kearns 54′), 6 Tom Franklin, 7 Dan Pryor (capt.), 8 Tevita Tameilau, 9 Jason Higgins, 10 Will Hooley, 11 Tomas Aoake, 12 Tiaan Loots, 13 Filimoni Waqainabete, 14 Thomas Morani (21 Nate Augspurger 14′), 15 Mikey Te’o (22 Luke Burton 71′)

Not used: 23 Matías Freyre

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Kahlil Harrison (USA)
Assistants: Cole Jones (USA) & Justin Hale (USA)
TMO: Derek Summers (USA)