Seawolves power through Jackals in Dallas

Seattle cruised to their third straight win as they took a 35-10 result over Dallas at Choctaw Stadium on Friday night. An early red card to Martín Elías put the Jackals on the back foot early, and the Seawolves defense shut down all but one attacking threat by the visitors.

Elías was in trouble just two minutes into the game when he stuck a boot into the face of Lauina Futi while catching a high ball. He will now find himself in front of a judiciary for the same offense that resulted in Marcos Moroni being suspended for three weeks after the season opener.

The Seawolves took advantage of the shortage in backline cover when Dan Kriel broke clean through, passing back inside to a trailing JP Smith for a runaway try. Dallas then lost Pedro Imhoff to injury at the hydration break, replaced by Danny Christensen, leaving them without both of their starting halfbacks just 20 minutes into the contest.

Lui Sitama came on to replace Elías, with Alejandro Torres switching to flyhalf. The return to full strength helped the Jackals briefly as Torres slotted a three-pointer. Meanwhile Futi went off for an HIA, a delayed reaction to his earlier meeting with Elías. He would eventually return to the pitch.

Before halftime breaks by Kriel and James Malcolm set up a try for Riekert Hattingh. The Seawolves captain strode through a huge gap in a disinterested defense. Torres and Jerónimo Gómez Vara combined to free James Vaifale down the left side but the support wasn’t there and the move came to nothing.

Four minutes into the second half Ben Landry charged down a Christensen clearance attempt. The big lock then took on the line and offloaded to Rhyno Herbst who was stopped just short. Hattingh was there on the wrap-around to blast through for a double.

The bonus point try came after AJ Alatimu set Conner Mooneyham free down the right side with a huge cutout pass. Mooneyham was stopped by the cover, and then Herbst took it to within inches of the line. Duncan Matthews attacked the short side and stepped past three defenders to score.

A consolation try finally came to Dallas when Adriaan Carelse offloaded to a hard-charging Herman Agenbag. The last say would got to the visitors, however, with smooth hands from Mzamo Majola and Ben Mitchell sending Nakai Penny in under the posts.

Both teams are back in action next Saturday. Dallas head to Snapdragon Stadium to play the Legion, while the Seawolves return home to face the Houston SaberCats.

 

SCORING

DALLAS 10
Tries (1) – H. Agenbag (67′)
Cons (1) – A. Torres 1/1 (68′)
Pens (1) – A. Torres 1/1 (24′)
RC (1) – M. Elías (2′)

SEATTLE 35
Tries (5) – J. Smith (9′), R. Hattingh 2 (33′, 44′), D. Matthews (54′), N. Penny (79′)
Cons (5) – No kick 4 (9′, 33′, 44′, 79′), A. Alatimu 1/1 (55′)

 

TEAMS

DALLAS JACKALS
1 Nicolás Revol (16 Liam Murray 55′), 2 Dewald Kotze (17 Connor Robinson 55′), 3 Juan Pablo Zeiss (18 Herman Agenbag 62′), 4 Sam Golla (19 Charlie Hola 73′), 5 Conrado Roura, 6 Jerónimo Gómez Vara (capt.), 7 Jalen Tatum (20 Carson Shoemaker 55′), 8 Adriaan Booysen, 9 Pedro Imhoff (21 Danny Christensen 21′), 10 Martín Elías (22 Lui Sitama 22′), 11 James Vaifale (23 Patrick Medina 73′), 12 Alejandro Torres, 13 Tomás Malanos, 14 Eric Naposki, 15 Adriaan Carelse

SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Jake Turnbull (17 Mzamo Majola 46′), 2 James Malcolm (16 Peter Malcolm 46′), 3 Mason Pedersen (18 Sam Matenga 46′), 4 Ben Landry (19 Taylor Krumrei 71′), 5 Rhyno Herbst (20 Ben Mitchell 71′), 6 Charles Elton, 7 Nakai Penny, 8 Riekert Hattingh (capt.) (20 Ben Mitchell 60′-71′), 9 JP Smith, 10 AJ Alatimu, 11 Lauina Futi (23 Martin Iosefo 21′-34′, 56′), 12 Tavite Lopeti, 13 Dan Kriel, 14 Conner Mooneyham (21 Karl Keane 75′), 15 Duncan Matthews

Not used: 22 Jordan Chait

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
Assistants: Andrew Low (USA) & Cole Jones (USA)
TMO: Derek Summers (USA)