Jackals Leave Miami With a 21-Point Win

Coming off a bye week, the Jackals might have been forgiven if they had gotten off to a sluggish start against the Miami Sharks Saturday night.

After all, it was a road match, and it takes a while to shake off the rust and get back into the swing of things. That kind of thinking. But any such concern turned out to be misplaced.

The Jackals scored their first try seven minutes into the match and overpowered the Sharks the rest of the way for a 38-17 victory. The match was over by halftime when the Jackals had a 21-0 lead. It wasn’t just the score. It was the way they controlled the Sharks, who couldn’t sustain much of any offensive effort.

With their second straight win, the Jackals improved their record to 4-4. They also gained an extra point in the standings by surpassing the 4-try mark early in the second half.

Jeronimo Gomez Vara, returning from a shoulder injury and filling in for the injured Sam Golla, opened the scoring on a run set up by a well-placed kick from Martin Elias. Golla injured an ankle in the victory over the Utah Warriors before last week’s bye.

Fly-half Elias was seeing action after missing a match. His booming and well-placed kicks were a big factor, especially in the first half.

Makeen Alikhan stepped through three would-be tacklers on a 30-meter sprint for the second try and Connor Winchester added another when he went the final few meters set up by prop Joaquin Horcada’s hard running. Barely 30 minutes into the match, it was over. So much for all that rust talk.

The Jackals’ other tries came in the second half from Jason Tidwell, Tomas Malanos and Daemon Torres. Tidwell blocked a kick to get Malanos on his way to his try.

The Jackals return to action on Sunday, May 5, when they travel to San Diego to take on the Legion. Kick-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT, and the match will be televised by The Rugby Network.