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The Miami Sharks recorded their first ever franchise victory as they breezed past Anthem Carolina by a final score of 50-21 on Saturday night. Defense let the visitors down as they conceded five tries in the first half, with the home side dominating the scrum and consistently breaching the gainline.
There was just four minutes on the clock when Shane O’Leary crossed for the opening try. A cross-kick from Felipe Etcheverry found Marcos Young, so simply shipped the ball on to the Canadian international for the finish. Etcheverry found the posts from the sideline to make it seven points to the home side.
Two tries them came in quick succession. A turnover from a loose pass ended up in Young’s hands, and this time Nick Grigg acted as the link man for Manuel Ardao to run in for the score. Sean McNulty was next in on the act, running clean through a big hole in the middle of the defensive line.
The visitors finally got on the board when a perfectly-weighted chip over the top from Oscar Koller landed in the hands of Te Rangatira Waitokia for a try under the sticks. A short stalemate ended when the Sharks took a scrum against the head, with Etcheverry knocking over three points.
Miami struck for two tries before the half on either side of an Anthem response. Carolina’s defense was all at sea again, leaving a gap for Grigg to exploit. Shneil Singh got one back for the visitors on an well-timed outside-in run off a ruck, but McNulty broke away and linked with Dan Pryor to free Santiago Videla on a run-in from halfway to make it 36-14 heading into the sheds.
Reinaldo Piussi departed shortly after halfway but Miami’s scrum remained in command, with a pushover try going to Ardao at the back. The Sharks couldn’t control the restart, however, and Cael Hodgson regathered before passing to Josh Shelter for a try in the corner, converted by Koller.
From a set piece the Sharks brought up their half-century. Grigg attacked the line and passed back inside to Videla, who graciously let Etcheverry complete the score with the Uruguayan star tacking on the extra two himself. No further scoring would take place as both teams emptied their bench.
Both teams are at home next weekend. Anthem takes on another Eastern Conference side in Old Glory DC on Saturday. On Sunday the Sharks welcome the San Diego Legion to Fort Lauderdale.
| SCORING |
MIAMI 50
Tries (7) – S. O’Leary (4′), M. Ardao (10′), S. McNulty (12′), N. Grigg (32′), S. Videla (40’+1′), M. Ardao (48′), F. Echeverry (58′)
Cons (6) – F. Etcheverry 5/6 (5′, 11′, 13′, 33′, 59′), No kick (48′)
Pens (1) – F. Etcheverry 1/1 (29′)
CAROLINA 21
Tries (3) – T. Waitokia (16′), S. Singh (36′), J. Shetler (49′)
Cons (3) – No kick (16′), O. Koller 2/2 (37′, 50′)
| LINEUPS |
MIAMI SHARKS
1 Rob Evans (17 Jonas Petrakopoulos 48′), 2 Sean McNulty*, 3 Reinaldo Piussi (18 Alec McDonnell 42′), 4 Tomás Casares, 5 Stan van den Hoven (19 Rick Rose 57′), 6 Roelof Smit (7 Dan Pryor 63′-65′) (16 Alex Glover 65′), 7 Dan Pryor (capt.) (22 Josh McAdam 60′), 8 Manuel Ardao (20 Benjamin Bonasso 52′), 9 Tomás Inciarte (21 Nicolás Elewaut 66′), 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Marcos Young, 12 Nick Grigg, 13 Guiseppe du Toit, 14 Santiago Videla, 15 Shane O’Leary (23 Matías Freyre 26′)
*2 Sean McNulty left the field at 76′ and could not be replaced
ANTHEM CAROLINA
1 Jake Turnbull (capt.) (17 Dan Hanson 66′), 2 Declan Moore (16 Connor Robinson 76′), 3 Stephan Bernal-Wendt (18 Ivan Pula HT), 4 Reagan Leslie, 5 Braemar Murray (19 James Rivers 50′), 6 Shneil Singh, 7 Albert O’Shannessey, 8 Dylan Fortune (20 Joe Basser 13′), 9 Conor McManus (23 Siaosi Nai 59′), 10 Oscar Koller, 11 Josh Shetler (22 Ulu Niutupuivaha 69′), 12 Mateo Gadsden (21 Cael Hodgson 22′), 13 Te Rangatira Waitokia, 14 Tyren Al-Jiboori, 15 Shane Barry
| MATCH INFO |
Date: Saturday, March 23
Venue: AutoNation Field, Fort Lauderdale
Kickoff: 19:00 local
Weather: cloudy, 77°F (25°C), wind SW 6-9mph (10-15km/h)
| OFFICIALS |
Referee: Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
Assistants: Lex Weiner (USA) & Tom Ciampa (USA)
TMO: Derek Summers (USA)
