The Dallas Jackals, sporting their Texas-themed City Edition jerseys, host the Chicago Hounds at Choctaw Stadium.

The visitors got on the board first through Kian Meadon, a successful penalty on his Hounds debut. The Jackals would be first over the whitwash however, as Jason Tidwell tore down the wing and finished in the corner to give the Jackals their first lead of the game. The Hounds would hit back through Mason Flesch, restoring a narrow 3pt lead for the guests at the first water break. Both sides struggled with discipline over the next 20 and neither was able to shift the scoreboard before the half time whistle.

Minutes into the 2nd half, the hosts turned on the gas and Sam Tuifua rampaged through for a 2nd Dallas score, a 7-pointer! This was followed 3 minutes later by another cracking try, finished by Juan-Dee Oliver to suddenly give the Jackals a 19-8 lead early int he 2nd half, which was extended through a Martin Elias penalty! The Hounds, slightly shellshocked and now down 22-8, were able to compose themselves and get back into the game, halting the Jackals onslaught before hitting back with a try of their own through Charlie Abel from close range shortly before the 2nd half water break.

The game bogged down at this point, with both sides struggling in the heat and humidity, and unable to make anything happen to change the scoreboard until, with 5 minutes to go and seemingly out of nowhere, MLR rookie Noah Brown crashed through a number of would-be tacklers to bring the Hounds within 4. Carelse nailed the conversion, now 2pts down with minutes to play. The Hounds tried twice to get Carelse in a position for a drop goal, but both times the Jackals chargers forced him to abort, eventually forcing a knock-on that would end the game.

This win is a huge step for the Jackals’ playoff aspirations, especially given that Utah and LA both lost in the West. In the East, the Hounds are still sat in 3rd and in a playoff spot, but it’s an uneasy one with DC right behind and the Miami Sharks still lurking.

The Dallas Jackals host the Utah Warriors in a Western Conference clash at Choctaw Stadium.

The Jackals came into this game having never defeated the Utah Warriors in 4 previous meetings, and were on the wrong end of some close games in teh 2024 season up to this point. They were looking for their first home victory of the 2024 campaign over a struggling Warriors side.

The hosts led 14-10 at the half time break, a familiar situation as they had led at HT in their previous two games and come away with 2 losses. They slotted a penalty to extend their lead before the Warriors pulled it back to 17-13 through the boot of Joel Hodgson before an expertly finished Michael Manson try pushed them into the lead. Hodgson added the 2 to give the guests a 17-20 lead in the closing stages.

The Jackals were awarded a penalty with maybe a minute remaining and, not content to draw, kicked for the corner. Dallas’ fearsome maul had resulted in 5 tries the previous week and they felt it could deliver again, a feeling that was proved correct as replacement hooker Tomas Bekerman trundled over to secure the victory in front of a home crowd. The conversion was missed but it made no difference, the hosts emerged as 22-20 victors to really cement their place in the Top 4 in the West.

The first Texas derby of the 2024 season saw the SaberCats travel to Dallas to face the Jackals at Choctaw Stadium.

The SaberCats became the first team of the 2024 season to complete over 200 tackles in a single game, finishing with 208 and squeaking out a 27-30 victory to remain undefeated. The Cats gained 336m with ball in hand, one of the lowest totals for the season and one of the lowest victorious MGained totals in MLR history. This is compared to the Dallas Jackals’ 851m gained, as they were knocking on the door with the clock in the red but were unable to find a way through.

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.