The Miami Sharks host Eastern Conference leaders the New England Free Jacks at Autonation Sports Field in Fort Lauderdale.

A typical late May day in Miami provided hot and humid conditions with which both teams struggled. The ball was slippy and proven very tricky to hold on to, bogging both teams down into a more attritional, low scoring affair. The game did not start that way, however. New England’s Seta Baker barrelled over with the Free Jacks’ maul after only 4 minutes, and Potroz added the extras to give the visitors an early 0-7 lead. The teams would then settle in to a back and forth, before Miami fly-half Santiago Videla slotted a penalty kick to get the guests on the board and almost immediately after that, a Sharks turnover in the Free Jacks 22 let Roelof Smit through with some great passing to give the Sharks an 8-7 lead, which would remain until the half-time whistle.

There was a threat of lightning in the area at half-time but fortunately that passed and the second half got underway, still in extremely humid conditions. Once again the guests got on the board early, through the boot of Potroz this time to give the Free Jacks a narrow 8-10 lead before the game settled back into the back and forth that was familiar from the first half. Handling errors and penalties swung the momentum almost endlessly. Avery Oitomen received a yellow card to put the Sharks down a man, but only a minute later, Kyle Baillie received a yellow of his own and the teams played 14v14 for almost 10 minutes. Just as the teams returned to full strength with no change to teh scoreboard, Manu Ardao received a yellow card (his 4th of the season) to put the Sharks back down to 14. Entering the final 2 minutes, the Sharks gave up a costly penalty with which Potroz made no mistake, extending the guests lead to 5pts and meaning the Sharks had to score a try just to tie the game. Enter Tomas Casares.

With the clock in the red, some great Sharks passing opened a gap in the Free Jacks line through which Casares thundered to score under the posts for an 7pt try to secure the win for Miami against the team that had drafted him! The Sharks snatch possibly their best win in the young history of the team, 13-15. This is the first time that an Expansion Team has defeated the reigning MLR Champions since the LA Giltinis defeated the 2019 Champion Seattle Seawolves in 2021 (2020 Shield not awarded)!

The Dallas Jackals travel to Florida to face the Miami Sharks at AutoNation Sports Field in a cross conference clash with a heavy Latin American influence.

The Jackals completed dominated the first half, running out to a 0-21 lead in half an hour and leaving the Sharks reeling through tries from Jero Gomez Vara, Makeen Alikhan, and Connor Winchester. They looked to continue this dominance in the 2nd half, with Jason Tidwell scoring early to secure the try BP for Dallas.

Chicago Hounds loanee Michael Hand scored an opportunistic try a few minutes later to get the Sharks on the board, but it was too little too late. The Jackals scored a 5th try minutes later to take the score to 7-33 and all but seal the result. The two sides exchanged tries around the 70 minute mark before Marcos Young scored the final points of the game to make the score a little more respectable for the hosts.

The Dallas Jackals continue their best MLR season to date with a BP victory to stay in a playoff spot, while the Sharks fail to secure any points, but stay within touching distance of the playoffs in the East.

The San Diego Legion travel cross-country to face the Miami Sharks at AutoNation Sports Field.

The Sharks were in the ascendancy for the first 55 minutes or so, establishing a 21-5 lead before 17 unanswered points from the Legion broke the hosts hearts. Despite scoring 16 of Miami’s 21 points, Felipe Etcheverry only went 3/8 from the tee, missing 4 penalties and a conversion that could have won Miami the game.

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.