Electrifying Finish Sets Franchise Win Record for the Jackals

This time, the Jackals were the ones making a last-second comeback after a victory seemed to be slipping away from them.

Tomas Bekerman bulled his way to the winning try in the 80^th minute to clinch a 22-20 victory over the Utah Warriors Friday at Choctaw Stadium.

Bekerman was following the example of Dewald Kotze, whom he replaced late in the match, by taking advantage of a rolling maul for the try. Last week, Kotze scored a team-record five tries, all of them off mauls.

The Jackals, improving their record to 3-4, had lost their last two matches by a total of just five points against Seattle and Houston, teams with the winningest records in the MLR this season. They led both of those matches late, only to be edged in the 80^th minute.

This week, though, they dominated Utah in almost all areas to take an early lead. Nick Benn scored their first try just two minutes into the game. Nazareno Valentini nailed the conversion kick for a 7-0 lead. The kicking was much better this week with Valentini and Connor Winchester making conversion and penalty kicks. Fullback Vaughen Isaacs was brilliant in a back-and-forth kicking contest with Utah’s Joel Hodgson for positioning.

After Utah took a 10-7 lead midway through the first half, Tomas Malanos scored a try on a nifty run to give the Jackals a 14-10 halftime lead.

The Jackals were ahead, 17-13, in the 66^th minute when Utah’s Michael Manson scored a try on a dynamic run-kick-recover effort. The conversion gave Utah a 20-17 lead.

That set the stage for a full-team effort on the rolling maul that wound up with Bekerman’s determined try for the victory.

The Warriors, a 10-match winner last season, dropped to 2-4 coming off a bye week.

The Jackals have a bye next week before traveling to Miami on Saturday, April 27, to take on the Sharks. Kick-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT, and the match will be televised by The Rugby Network.

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The Dallas Jackals are a professional rugby team that plays at Choctaw Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Jackals are members of Major League Rugby. The team has played in Dallas/Fort Worth since 2022. Stay connected with the
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