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The Utah Warriors bounced back from last week's home loss to West-leading San Diego with a crucial road win Saturday afternoon.
Connor McLeod scored a first-half hat trick, and Joe Mano added two tries of his own as the Warriors pulled away for a 36-26 victory over the Dallas Jackals at Choctaw Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Juan Pablo Zeiss scored three tries to lead Dallas (1-9, 8 points), the last-placed team in Major League Rugby's Western Conference.
"It's a good one for the boys. The five points are awesome; that was our goal," McLeod said after the match. "We started well. The first 20 I was proud of the boys. But Dallas are a dangerous team and came back twice.
"I'm just glad the boys got through."
The Warriors (7-4, 33 points) started lightning fast, scoring four tries in 20 minutes to jump out to an early 28-0 run en route to a 28-14 halftime advantage.
Joel Hodgson extended Utah's lead to 31-14 with a penalty conversion in the opening moments of the second half.
TRY TIME!
— Utah Warriors Rugby (@utwarriorsrugby) May 13, 2023
Joe Mano walks one in to extend the lead#ForTheNationpic.twitter.com/ZwYLO1XfTw
Dallas dotted one down for a third consecutive try. But Mano scored his second try of the match to push the Warriors' lead back to 17, becoming Utah's all-time leading try scorer in the process.
Zeiss capped his hat trick in the 68th minute to pull the Jackals within 36-26. But the hosts could get no closer as the Warriors took all five points to set up a crucial meeting next week against fourth-place Houston.
"I think there were a lot of momentum shifts during that game," McLeod said. "When we had the ball wide, we looked pretty sharp. But a lot of penalties … and credit to them, they converted their tries to keep it pretty tight. But the last 10, I think we did pretty well."
Fourth-place Utah will host the third-place Sabercats (7-4, 36 points) next Saturday, May 20 at 7:30 p.m. MT at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman. The match will also be broadcast on KMYU and The Rugby Network.
"It's going to be a huge one next week," McLeod said. "We wanted to get the five points here, and we've done that. Now we have to recover, get into next week, and play hard. Houston's a good outfit, but we love playing at home."
Hard fought second half by the @DallasJackals, but in the end, the @utwarriorsrugby take 5 points away.
— Major League Rugby (@usmlr) May 14, 2023
Second half highlights here:
🎥@therugbynetwork | #DALvUTAH | #MLR2023pic.twitter.com/xOe1bNEykB
