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After an abbreviated outing last weekend, the Jackals will be ready for a full 80 minutes against Utah on Saturday night. The lightning show denied Dallas a chance for an upset win over DC, while the Legion denied the Warriors even a losing bonus point at Zions Bank Stadium.
Dallas have lost four in a row since their historic win over Toronto on the 1st of April. Last Saturday’s showing against DC may not have been pretty but it was at least competitive. Predictably it’s a virtually identical match day squad this week with the only change on the bench where Lui Sitama is added in place of James Vaifale.
The Warriors enter the weekend eight points behind Houston for the third and final playoff spot in the West. That makes it back-to-back defeats with only a single competition point between the two. Greg Cooper will be demanding more from his charges despite playing on the road.
Emersion Prior comes in at loosehead prop in one of two personnel changes to the starting pack. The other sees Jurie van Vuuren in the second row, with Lance Williams dropping to the bench and Onehunga Havili switching from lock to flanker. Williams makes it two loose forwards in reserve along with John DuPree on a bench with a 6/2 split.
Caleb Makene is fit to continue at fullback after leaving the San Diego match early with a bruised foot. The only alteration in the backline is at inside center where Tyler Fisher takes over for Calvin Whiting. Zion Going and Tomasi Tonga are the only backs in reserve.
The forecast is somewhat ominous with light rain and a risk of thunderstorms at kickoff. Fingers will be crossed the lightning doesn’t strike a third time. Otherwise conditions will be warm and humid which likely means a strong emphasis on the set piece. Utah have prepared for the heavy load up front with an extra forward on the bench.
Dallas will have the advantage of being rested after the 40-minute run-out last weekend. Home advantage counts for little, but it’s worth noting that in their previous meeting this season both teams scored five tries with Utah’s superior goal kicking the difference. The Warriors are the more accomplished outfit and have more to play for, but the Jackals could be primed for a steal of the visitors aren’t careful.
Kickoff is set for 5pm local time, 4pm Mountain, 3pm Pacific, 6pm Eastern. Local broadcasts will be available on KTXA in Dallas-Fort Worth, and both KMYU and KSL Sports online in Utah. Viewers located elsewhere can watch on The Rugby Network.
DALLAS JACKALS
1 Nicolás Revol, 2 Dewald Kotze, 3 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 4 Sam Golla, 5 Lucas Bur, 6 Jerónimo Gómez Vara (capt.), 7 Conrado Roura, 8 Adriaan Booysen, 9 Pedro Imhoff, 10 Martín Elías, 11 Campbell Johnstone, 12 Alejandro Torres, 13 Tomás Malanos, 14 Aaron Gray, 15 Marcos Moroni
Replacements: 16 Liam Murray, 17 Connor Robinson, 18 Kyle Steeves, 19 Carson Shoemaker, 20 Cameron Nelson, 21 Danny Christensen, 22 Juan Pablo Aguirre, 23 Lui Sitama
UTAH WARRIORS
1 Emerson Prior, 2 Henry Bell, 3 Paul Mullen, 4 Jamie Lane, 5 Jurie van Vuuren, 6 Bailey Wilson (capt.), 7 Onehunga Havili, 8 Thomas Tu’avao, 9 Connor McLeod, 10 Joel Hodgson, 11 Joe Mano, 12 Tyler Fisher, 13 Mika Kruse, 14 Logan Tago, 15 Caleb Makene
Replacements: 16 Joey Backe, 17 Franco van den Berg, 18 Angus MacLellan, 19 Saia Uhila, 20 Lance Williams, 21 John DuPree, 22 Zion Going, 23 Tomasi Tonga
Date: Saturday, May 13
Venue: Choctaw Stadium, Arlington
Kickoff: 17:00 local (15:00 Pacific, 16:00 Mountain, 18:00 Eastern)
Broadcasts: KMYU, KTXA, KSL Sports, The Rugby Network
Referee: Robin Kaluzniak (Canada)
Assistants: Andrew Low (USA) & Justin Hale (USA)
TMO: Greg Gilliam (USA)
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2023-02-25 – Utah Warriors 33, Dallas Jackals 25 (Zions Bank Stadium)
2022-06-04 – Dallas Jackals 5, Utah Warriors 33 (Choctaw Stadium)
2022-03-05 – Utah Warriors 69, Dallas Jackals 22 (Zions Bank Stadium)
