The Dallas Jackals‘ inaugural season has been full of bumps and bruises, from the inability to get a travel visa for the team’s head coach just before the season started to an accident in which nine players were injured simultaneously. Adding insult to the heap of injuries, the Jackals have yet to register a victory this season and continue losing by large margins, including in this past week’s game against the San Diego Legion. The Jackals lost by a final tally of 53-14.
On a positive note, the match was the first the Jackals have scored two or more tries since the team’s March 19 loss to the Seattle Seawolves.
The team has failed to score more than one try in half of its games this season while losing by a combined score of 532-174. That figure is nearly a three-times differential between the Jackals and the next-worst team in the league.
Down 15-0 at the 23-minute mark, the Jackals’ Chris Pennell made a cross-field desperation pass that Juan Pablo Aguirre Romero neatly collected for the Jackals’ first try. Not even three minutes later, the Legion found a gaping seam in the Jackals’ defense and easily scored their third try of the day.
Five minutes later, another Jackals’ defensive breakdown allowed a fourth Legion try and set the score to 29-7. Another five minutes and the Legion scored again, this time physically abusing the Jackals’ defense on the try line and taking the ball just outside the pole for a fifth try, with nearly half of the match remaining.
A sixth try came at the 48-minute mark, extending the Legion lead to 43-7. Just before the 59-minute mark, the Jackals got their second and final try of the day. Matoko Noudehou made one of the most brutal tries of the season, refusing to be tackled as he shouldered his way through five Legion players to find the try zone and break the Jackals’ four-game streak of being held to one or fewer tries.
The Legion would score another try at the 67-minute mark, outflanking the Jackals’ defense and lunging into the try zone to firmly put the game out of reach.
The final Legion try of the match came after the 80-minute mark and was in some ways indicative of the entire season. On a Jackals’ throw-in, Conrado Roura had the ball go over his head and just off the tips of his fingers. The ball was caught by the Legion, who ended the match with a score.
The Jackals have four remaining matches, two of which will be at home. They travel to Seattle to take on the Seawolves this Saturday, then to Toronto to take on the Arrows, a team that the Jackals have yet to face this season.
The final two matches of the season will both be at home, with the final game being considered the most likely to result in a Jackals win. That match will be against the Utah Warriors, who have won only two matches this season.
