Team News
MEET THE DALLAS JACKALS' NEW HEAD COACH AGUSTIN CAVALIERI
Written By Joe Harvey I Photo By Dallas Jackals
In the 2022 Major League Rugby season, the competition's newest team, the Dallas Jackals, finished their inaugural campaign with an 0-16 record. This summer, the team has announced a series of changes at their Choctaw Stadium home and hopes for new horizons in 2023.
Speaking to Major League Rugby, the team's new head coach, Agustin Cavalieri, discusses his aims for his first season at the helm and his message to the team's fans as the team hopes to get a first win in franchise history sooner rather than later.
NEW KID ON THE BLOCK
Arriving in Dallas, Texas, Cavalieri has plenty of experience to his name. At 40, the Argentina-born lock forward played the majority of his senior career in Italy, as well as for teams in France, and even represented the country of his birth at age grade level. Even during his playing career, Cavalieri helped coach at Rugby Calvisano, helping the side to four Top 12 Championships, and most recently, was the forwards' coach for the Italian U20 side. In recent years, that Italy age grade side has seen much success, with many players graduating to the Test team, while in their Six Nations campaign this season, the side beat all of England, Scotland, and Wales. "I am very excited," Cavalieri said. "I am very happy to arrive in a new place, with a new team, a young team, and trying to bring all my experience, culture, and mentality to bring the first win and continue to win. "I want to win the first game and continue to win every game. We are looking to win 16 games in the season and then go into the playoffs. That is our mentality; try and win every game that we are going to play. "I think it's the most important thing we want to bring to a team, winning. I think it is very important." Cavalieri is part of a South American influx at Choctaw Stadium. Along with the head coach, the team's new General Manager is also an Argentine, Santiago Sodini, from the same town as the coach and joining players such as Conrado Roura, Alejandro Torres, and JP Aguirre with the team. It stands to reason that whichever team first takes to the team in 2023 will look much different in just a few months' time. Planning for the new campaign from his home in Italy now, the 40-year-old believes that it is only through blood, sweat, and tears can his new charges have a bright future. "I love working," Cavalieri said. "Work is the most important word that we can use. To make things happen, work is the only thing. We must work a lot. We have a lot of work to do. "I think with the players from last season and the new players that will arrive, we must work together and try to resolve what happened last season, try to bring all our new energy, our new culture, and our new work that we want to try to bring to Dallas."
Photo by Amparo Ayala
2022 CHALLENGES
In the case of the Dallas Jackals, there was plenty that surrounded the team's first season of professional rugby. As a result of the impact of Covid-19, the Jackals joined the MLR a year after they had initially aimed. However, the side had put together a team with a variety of experience. This included the arrivals of English Premiership stalwarts Henry Trinder and Chris Pennell, while the likes of Carlo de Nysschen and Alex Tucci were experienced MLR campaigners. However, even before a ball was kicked, there was discomfort caused when incoming head coach Michael Hodge could not join the team due to visa delays. Despite this disruption, the team was more than competitive. In their first home game, the team lost to the Houston SaberCats in the final play of the game, and following an off-field incident, a number of the playing group were injured. As a result, the team had to look to other MLR teams for trades in order to keep their playing numbers afloat. Unfortunately, this chopping and changing of playing personnel contributed to the team being unable to pick up that first victory in the eyes of their new head coach. "I watched all their games, and I think the problem they had last season was that they changed too many players in every game," Cavalieri said. "I think they used between 60 and 70 players for 16 games. That is a lot of players, no? "A lot of players, I think, was the biggest issue they had last season. When that happens for a team, I think it is hard to go into a system. I saw too many problems with the attack and defensive systems."
Photo by Amparo Ayala