Dramatic ending as the Houston Sabercats took on the Dallas Jackals in the third round of the 2022 MLR season last Saturday.
The local clash was the first time the sides met in the competition’s history. This is the Dallas Jackals inaugural season in Major League Rugby having had to push back their entry to the league from last season. The Jacklas played their opening game in the competition against another Texas side, the Austin Gilgronis. The Gilgronis ran out 43-7 winners. A week later they lost 37-29 to the San Diego Legion, in San Diego. The Legion boasts some big names from World Rugby such as All Black legend Ma’a Nonu and former England captain Chris Robshaw.
The third round Texas clash was Dallas’ first home game in history too. Choctaw Stadium was the venue for this clash which ended in dramatic fashion. The 48,000 seater stadium is one of the largest capacity stadiums in the league. The stadium is located in Arlington, Texas and has hosted many baseball and football events in the past.
Coming up to the 81st minute of play, the game was tied at 31 point’s a piece. Houston had possession in and around the half-way line. Fly Half Davey Coetzeer made a 20-metre break before throwing a superb offload from the deck to supporting scrum-half Dillion Smit. Smit threw a lovely floating pass over the top to substitute Giudeo van Wyk which was excellently caught. The substitute did well to avoid fumbling the ball. Van Wyk popped the ball off the floor and an inside pass was given to centre Christian Dyer to finish the play and win the game for Houston. Dyer certainly had a lot of work to do when he got the ball and made the finish look easy.
Houston are led by head coach Paul Healy with former Springbok head coach Heyneke Meyer as Director of Rugby.
The commentary sums up the Texas clash: “wow, what a game!”.
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