New York scrum steamrolls Jackals in frozen Dallas

Unseasonably cold weather wasn’t enough to throw Rugby New York off their game in Dallas. The visitors came away with comprehensive 41-5 victory over the Jackals at Choctaw Stadium on Saturday evening. The set piece set the stage as New York’s forwards had their way with their opposites.

New York had two tries on the board by the first hydration break. Kalolo Tuiloma broke off a rolling maul and barreled over for the first. The second went to Pago Haini, breaking from the back of a scrum. Sam Windsor missed the first conversion but was on target on the second.

A third try went to Will Tucker, who took a pass from Haini and used his long reach to finish in the corner. Dallas got on the board next when Mike Matarazzo’s hit on Jack Heighton dislodged the ball. Chad London showed his footballing skills to hack it ahead and regather to score a try.

Windsor’s cross-kick to Andrew Coe was called back when the TMO revealed the winger was offside, but New York had advantage and would score moments later anyway. Tuiloma crashed through the Dallas defense from close range to make the score 22-5 at halftime.

The Jackals scrum went backwards at a rate of knots in the second half. Andy Ellis broke from a ruck and put Sam Windsor through a gap for a seven-pointer. Windsor left the field with Heighton switching to flyhalf, and he would soon ghost through the line for New York’s sixth try.

Replacement hooker Kaleb Geiger was forced off after only two minutes with a head injury. Wilton Rebolo returned to the fray and the front rower did his best winger impression for the seventh try. A long attacking sequence ended with the Brazilian diving over on the stroke of full-time.

There is no rest for Dallas, who will have to front up against the Utah Warriors at Salt Lake next Saturday. New York play their home opener against local rivals New England on Sunday.

 

SCORING

DALLAS 5
Tries – C. London (32′)
Cons – A. Carelse 0/1

NEW YORK 41
Tries – K. Tuiloma 2 (7, 39′), P. Haini (18′), W. Tucker (28′), S. Windsor (55′), J. Heighton (65′), W. Rebolo (80′)
Cons – S. Windsor 1/4 (19′), No kick (55′), J. Heighton 1/1 (66′), A. Ellis 0/1
DG – S. Windsor 0/1

 

TEAMS

DALLAS JACKALS
1 Liam Murray (17 Ryan Bower 58′), 2 Matt Frings (16 Brendan Rams 45′), 3 Alex Tucci (18 Tommy Madaras 58′), 4 Bronson Teles (20 Adriaan Booysen 47′), 5 Jérémy Lenaerts (19 Sam Phillips 67′), 6 Mike Matarazzo, 7 Moe Abdelmonem, 8 Conrado Roura, 9 Tom Brusati (21 Dylan James HT), 10 Adriaan Carelse, 11 Aaron Gray (22 Ned Hodson 48′), 12 Chad London, 13 Henry Trinder, 14 Campbell Johnstone, 15 Chris Pennell (capt.) (23 Alejandro Torres 48′)

RUGBY NEW YORK
1 Zak Taulafo (17 Chance Wenglewski 47′), 2 Wilton Rebolo (16 Kaleb Geiger 58′-60′), 3 Kalolo Tuiloma (18 Nic Mayhew 56′), 4 Nate Brakeley (capt.), 5 Charlie Hewitt, 6 Will Tucker (20 Dylan Fawsitt 58′), 7 Brendon O’Connor, 8 Pago Haini (19 Joe Basser 50′), 9 Connor Buckley (22 Andy Ellis 47′), 10 Sam Windsor (23 Fa’asiu Fuatai 56′), 11 Apenisa Cakaubalavu (21 Conor McManus 69′), 12 Jason Emery, 13 Quinn Ngawati, 14 Andrew Coe, 15 Jack Heighton

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Mike Lash (New Zealand)
Assistants: Kat Roche (USA) & Cole Jones (USA)
TMO: Jack Gohl (Australia)