Day: July 20, 2024

2024 Western Conference SF 1 – Houston SaberCats v Dallas Jackals

MLR’s top regular season team, the Houston SaberCats (#1) host their Texas Rivals the Dallas Jackals (#4) at SaberCats Stadium for the Western Conference Semi-Finals and a spot in the Western Conference Final.

The game started as a slow burn in the Houston heat, with the first coming from the boot of AJ Alatimu 10 minutes in, before the Jackals dotted down the first try through Ronan Foley a few minutes later. The conversion missed, but Dallas would get another chance soon enough as Connor Winchester doubled their tries 5 minutes later, and Juan-Dee Oliver made no mistakes with this one. The guests lead 3-12 at the first water break, which the SaberCats must have needed because they hit back almost immediately after play resumed through Seimou Smith to close the gap, before taking the lead a few minutes later thanks to a great line break from Louritz van der Schyff to give the hosts back a 3pt lead. Oliver’s boot tied things up at 15-15 on the half hour mark, before Tomas Cubilla would notch Dallas’ 3rd try of the day. Conversion missed again gave the Jackals a 15-20 lead which remained intact at the half time break.

Gideon van Wyk came off the bench at 50 minutes and almost immediately received a yellow card, digging the ‘Cats into a deeper hole that was about to get worse. Tautalatasi Tasi, usually such a threat in midfield, attempted a grubber that he fluffed and the ball was picked up by Dallas back row Sam Tuifua who offloaded to Jason Tidwell to extend the visitors lead to 15-27 following the conversion. Houston would get one back through Andre Warner at the 65 minute mark to close the gap back to 5, before clsoe to 10 minutes of back and forth as the SaberCats tried desperately to break the Jackals’ defence, but the Houston heat and humidity was not on their side. Another SaberCats mistake with a handful of minutes remaining led to a kick through was finished by Juan-Dee Oliver, which put the game to bed. Martin Elias added the extras to take the score out of reach, and the game ended 22-34.

This marks the first time ever that the Dallas Jackals have defeated their rivals from Houston, and what a time to deliver. They advance to the Western Conference Finals to face the Seattle Seawolves at the formidable Starfire Stadium. For the SaberCats, they still wait for their first Playoff victory, and the clubs best ever season ends early. They head to the off-season and with Director of Rugby Heneke Meyer heading back to South Africa, they face a big challenge.

v

2024 Eastern Conference SF 1 – New England Free Jacks v Old Glory DC

Following the International break, the MLR Playoffs get underway with the reigning champion New England Free Jacks (#1) hosting Old Glory DC (#4) at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium for a spot in the Eastern Conference Final.

The hosts may have had their 2024 home record in the back of their heads as they entered this one, with 3 of their losses coming at the usually impenetrable Fort Quincy, including one to Old Glory DC early in the season. The Free Jacks however, opened the scoring through a Reece MacDonald score in open play to grab an early 7-0 lead, before Connor Buckley ran a great support line to level things up just minutes later. Jayson potroz would add a penalty to give New England back the lead before Buckley would strike again to shift the lead over to the Flags, before the two sides traded penalty for try once more, with DC captain Jama Fa’anana-Schultz diving over the ruck to tocuh down for Old Glory’s 3rd of the game and give the visitors a 13-21 lead after Jason Robertson added the two. The two sides settled into a back and forth without shifting the scoreboard, and it looked as though DC would take that lead into the sheds for the half time break, but the Free Jacks had other ideas. A 36th minute try from Jed Melvin cut the gap, before Potroz added another 3 followed by Oscar Lennon scoring his first MLR try with the clock inthe red for half-time, to give the hosts a 30-21 lead and shellshock Old Glory DC with 17pts scored in the final 5 or so minutes of the first half.

A high-scoring first half led to a low scoring second, with a real battle for the first 15minutes of the half was finally broken by Connor Buckley’s 3rd try of the game, to cut the gap to 4pts after a missed conversion. With this score, Buckley becomes the first player in MLR history to record a hat trick in a Playoff game! Minutes later, Potroz added another 3pts to extend the lead to 7pts, before a 66th minute penalty to DC where they opted for the posts rather than the corner, taking the score to 33-29 with just under 15minutes to play. These final 15 minutes proved a defensive masterclass from the Free Jacks, pinning DC deep in their own end and giving them no real opportunity to gain ground and get into scoring range. Another nail-biting game in this growing rivalry ends 33-29 in favour of the reigning champion New England Free Jacks.

The Free Jacks advance to the Eastern Conference Final where they will face the winner of NOLA Gold v Chicago Hounds, while DC’s season comes to an end in Quincy once again, and they head to the off-season.

v