Jackals impress with bonus point road win over Sharks

The Jackals earned their fourth win of the season in impressive fashion on Saturday night, scoring six tries en route to a 38-17 result over the Sharks in Miami. Dallas were the superior side throughout and held a 21-nil lead at the break with their hosts scoring two tries late to soften the scoreline.

From the opening whistle the visitors were on the attack. They went through several phases, methodically working their way towards Miami’s line until captain Jerónimo Gómez Vara crashed through to score the opening try. Martín Elías calmly slotted the conversion to make it a full seven.

It was more open play that created the second try. The ball went wide right where Nic Benn was waiting to sprint down the sideline. Though he was stopped short, it was quickly recycled and sent to the left side. Makeen Alikhan cut back across the grain and grounded the ball with a defender hanging off his back.

Miami suffered a blow when they lost vice-captain Manuel Ardao to injury just before the half-hour mark. The Jackals piled on the pressure and though they were initially held up, it wasn’t long before Connor Winchester was in under the posts after half-breaks from Sam Tuifua and Joaquín Horcada.

Early in the second half it was more of the same. The Sharks were caught carelessly moving the ball across the line and Tuifua snatched possession away, offloading to Jason Tidwell for a run-in to the bonus point. Elias somehow missed the routine extras but it was now 26-nil to the visitors.

A try finally came for the Sharks after some determined phase play. Roelof Smit broke through on the right side and though he was felled just short, Michael Hand reached over the ruck to touch down in the corner. Santiago Videla had the accuracy to slot the conversion despite the swirling wind.

Another key player was lost to Miami when Benjamín Bonasso departed for an HIA at the 50-minute mark, from which he would not return. Just a couple minutes later Dallas added insult to injury when Tomás Malanos looped around to take a pop pass from Ronan Foley in for the fifth Jackals try.

The two sides exchanged scores after the second hydration break. Felipe Etcheverry found Videla lurking out wide with a cross-kick, who in turn put Guiseppe du Toit into the corner. The visitors responded when Daemon Torres charged down Tomás Inciarte’s clearance attempt from the restart. Miami were too slow to react and Malanos regathered, flicking a back-handed pass to Torres for the try.

Tomás Bekerman found himself in trouble at the 75th minute, with a red card brandished after his head-to-head clearout on Damian Morley. The final say would go to the home side with Etcheverry breaking through the middle to set up a finish for Marcos Young, but there wasn’t enough time left for the Sharks to conjure a bonus point.

Both teams are on the road next weekend. Miami will hope for a better result against Old Glory DC on Saturday, while Dallas have an extra day to prepare for Sunday’s clash against the San Diego Legion.

SCORING

MIAMI 17
Tries (3) – M. Hand (48′), G. du Toit (68′), M. Young (78′)
Cons (1) – S. Videla 1/3 (49′)

DALLAS 38
Tries (6) – J. Gómez Vara (5′), M. Alikhan (22′), C. Winchester (31′), J. Tidwell (42′), T. Malanos (52′), D. Torres (70′)
Cons (4) – M. Elías 3/5 (6′, 23′, 53′), No kick (31′)
RC (1) – T. Bekerman (75′)

LINEUPS

MIAMI SHARKS
1 Rob Evans (17 Jonas Petrakopoulos 43′), 2 Sean McNulty (16 Alex Glover 69′), 3 Tevita Sole (18 Alec McDonnell 57′), 4 Rick Rose, 5 Stan van den Hoven (19 David Beach 69′), 6 Benjamín Bonasso (22 Chase Schor-Haskin 50′), 7 Dan Pryor (capt.), 8 Manuel Ardao (20 Roelof Smit 27′), 9 Tomás Inciarte (21 Damian Morley 71′), 10 Santiago Videla, 11 Michael Hand (23 Avery Oitomen 57′), 12 Nick Grigg, 13 Guiseppe du Toit, 14 Marcos Young, 15 Felipe Etcheverry

DALLAS JACKALS
1 Joaquín Horcada (16 Connor Grindal 71′), 2 Dewald Kotze (17 Tomás Bekerman 59′), 3 Juan Pablo Zeiss (18 Kyle Steeves 60′), 4 Jerónimo Gómez Vara (capt.), 5 Lucas Bur (19 Daemon Torres 59′), 6 Ronan Foley (1 Joaquín Horcada 75′), 7 Makeen Alikhan (22 Marques Fuala’au 57′), 8 Sam Tuifua (20 Ronnie McElligott 71′), 9 Juan-Dee Oliver (21 Brock Gallagher 69′), 10 Martín Elías, 11 Jason Tidwell, 12 Tomás Malanos, 13 Mitch Richardson, 14 Nic Benn, 15 Connor Winchester (23 Joeli Tikoisuva HT)

MATCH INFO

Date: Saturday, April 27
Venue: AutoNation Field, Fort Lauderdale
Kickoff: 19:30 local
Weather: partly cloudy, 73°F (23°C), wind E 17-25mph (27-40km/h)

OFFICIALS

Referee: Scott Green (USA)
Assistants: Cisco Lopez (USA) & Tom Ciampa (USA)
TMO: Eanna O’Dowd (Ireland)

HIGHLIGHTS