NA Rugby Database

Recap

The Chicago Hounds travel to Texas to face the Dallas Jackals at Choctaw Stadium in a battle of the bottom, with Dallas sitting 10th and Chicago 11th in the overall standings entering this game.

As with many of the Jackals’ game in 2023, the previous meeting between this sides was a hard fought 24-22 victory to the Hounds, so MLR’s newest club were looking to sweep the season series against the Jackals.

The visiting Hounds had already established a 0-14 lead before the first water break through tries from Paddy Ryan and Maclean Jones, and the game was in danger of getting away from the Jackals if not for two quick scores from Marcos Moroni and Danny Christensen just 2 minutes later to bring the game back to 14-14. Both sides were held of the scoresheet for the remainder of the first half and went into the break level.

Shortly following the half-time whistle, all hell broke loose. Dallas’ Sam Golla and Chicago’s Cam Dodson ended up in a scrap off the ball which quickly saw players from both sides jump into the melee. Once order had been restored, a whopping 5 red cards were handed out. 2 to the Jackals (Conrado Roura and in an obvious case of mistaken identity, Adriaan Booysen when it should have been Sam Golla) and 3 to the Hounds (Maclean Jones, Lindsey Stevens, and Cam Dodson). Couple this with the 4 yellow cards that the Hounds received throughout the game, and this game is likely the most carded game in MLR history, with a total of 9 cards dished out (5 red, 4 yellow).

Though most people will likely remember this game for the chaos, the Hounds did eventually win the game 28-29 thanks to a late penalty goal from Luke Carty, ending their season with back to back wins and finishing in 10th place. The Jackals did pick up 2 BPs from this game, but it’s another narrow loss. They end their 2023 campaign with 2 wins, and settle for an 11th place finish, bottom of the Western Conference.