NA Rugby Database

Recap

The Chicago Hounds, now in the Eastern Conference, travel to Miami to face the Sharks at Autonation Sports Field at DRV PNK Stadium. This game marks the first game in Franchise history for the Miami Sharks and they had to wait longer than planned, as a weather delay postponed kick off until 6pm ET.

The wet conditions proved troublesome for both sides, with the slippery ball forcing handling errors on both sides. It didn’t take long for the Hounds to open the scoring however, as Adriaan Carelse nails a penalty right in from of the posts to score the first points of the 2024 season for Chicago. Within a couple of minutes the Miami Sharks would have a near-identical opportunity, and Felipe Etcheverry made no mistake to score the first MLR points in franchise history for the Sharks. Carelse hit back with another pen to give the Hounds back the lead, as the battle of the kickers defined the opening minutes.

With the score at 6-6, the Hounds won a lineout and set up a perfect rolling maul that fell just short of the line. However, referee Khalil Harrison determined it was done so illegally and awarded a Penalty Try for the Hounds to give them a 6-13 lead and Manu Ardao was awarded a yellow card for the infraction. The same story repeated following the first water break. A rolling maul was interfered with by Benjamin Bonasso and a second Penalty Try was awarded. Bonasso committed the infraction but Stan van den Hoven was sin binned in an unfortunate case of mistaked identity. Etcheverry was able to strike back immediately to bring the score to 9-20 to the Hounds.

The first half belonged to the Hounds, but the second saw the Sharks bite back. They were in the ascendency almost immediately, camping deep in the Hounds’ 22 for a long time but unable to convert to points until finally, Sean McNulty finds paydirt from a rolling maul for the first try in Sharks franchise history. Etcheverry converts to bring the score to 16-20. After 20 minutes of back and forth, including multiple opportunities for the Hounds, the Sharks landed another penalty to bring them even closer, the score sitting at 19-20 to the Hounds with 15 minutes remaining. Unfortunately for the hosts, they would concede a very easy penalty with which Carelse made no mistake to take the gap back to 4pts, 19-23 with 5 minutes to go but the Sharks were unable to change the scoreboard any further despite Manu Ardao coming so close in the final moments.