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Major League Rugby welcomes Miami to the fold on Sunday evening when the Sharks open their account against the Chicago Hounds. The Sharks will be hoping for strong local support in their home opener while the heavily-upgraded Hounds are looking jump from third-last on the log to title contenders.
| CLUB DEBUTS |
(23) – everyone!
(12) – Zhvania, Fawsitt, Peculo, Scott, Merrick, Flesch, Rumball, McCarthy, Augspurger, Carelse, Pujadas, Higgins
| MLR DEBUTS |
(11) – Evans, Myhill, Piussi, Casares*, Ardao, Cubelli, Etcheverry, Grigg, Inciarte, Rose*, Morley
(6) – Zhvania, Peculo, Scott, Merrick, McCarthy, Pujadas
* – pro debut
| CAPPED INTERNATIONALS |
(10) – Evans, Myhill (Wales), Piussi, Ardao, Etcheverry, Inciarte (Uruguay), Bonasso (USA), Cubelli (Argentina), O’Leary, du Toit (Canada)
(13) – Zhvania (Georgia), Fawsitt, White, McCarthy, Baska, Campbell, Augspurger, Carty (USA), Peculo, Pujadas (Uruguay), Flesch, Rumball, Higgins (Canada)
| NOTABLE ABSENTEES |
– Michael Etete (LO), Santiago Videla (WI/FB), Matías Freyre (FB)
– Ben Landry (LO/FL), Dave Kearney (WI)
| NOTES |
- this is the MLR debut for Miami Sharks Head Coach José Pellicena, who previously led Argentina’s u20 side… while Sam Harris returns for a second season in Chicago
- both starting tighthead props featured for Uruguay at Rugby World Cup 2023… Chicago’s Ignacio Peculo played in three games, starting two, while Miami’s Reinaldo Piussi played in two
- Chicago loosehead prop Zura Zhvania is the second Georgian international to play in MLR following Houston’s Nikoloz Khatiashvili… former Raptors lock Grigor Kerdikoshvili was uncapped at the time but later played test rugby for the Lelos
- Miami captain Tomas Cubelli will be the most experienced man on the field, having made 92 test appearances for Argentina since his international debut in 2010
- Chicago captain Billy Meakes will line up at flyhalf for the first time in his professional career… he memorably started once at flanker for the LA Giltinis against San Diego in 2021
- Ireland international Dave Kearney was a late scratch for Chicago and Ben Landry has a minor injury… Chile star Santiago Videla misses out on Miami selection due to import limits
| PREDICTION |
Both teams are effectively at full strength and newcomers Miami look particularly strong at the 8-9-10 positions. The selection of Meakes at No10 for Chicago is a major surprise, though Luke Carty is on the bench should that experiment go sideways. Elsewhere the Hounds are a formidable outfit with impressive strength in depth across the board. Chicago are clear favorites.
| LINEUPS |
MIAMI SHARKS
1 Rob Evans, 2 Kirby Myhill, 3 Reinaldo Piussi, 4 Tomás Casares, 5 Stan van den Hoven, 6 Benjamín Bonasso, 7 Dan Pryor, 8 Manuel Ardao, 9 Tomás Cubelli (capt.), 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Eric Naposki, 12 Nick Grigg, 13 Tomás Inciarte, 14 Marcos Young, 15 Shane O’Leary
Replacements: 16 Sean McNulty, 17 Jonas Petrakopoulos, 18 Alec McDonnell, 19 Rick Rose, 20 Chase Schor-Haskin, 21 Damian Morley, 22 Guiseppe du Toit, 23 Avery Oitomen
CHICAGO HOUNDS
1 Zura Zhvania, 2 Dylan Fawsitt, 3 Ignacio Peculo, 4 James Scott, 5 George Merrick, 6 Mason Flesch, 7 Lucas Rumball, 8 Luke White, 9 Nick McCarthy, 10 Billy Meakes (capt.), 11 Michael Baska, 12 Bryce Campbell, 13 Mark O’Keeffe, 14 Nate Augspurger, 15 Adriaan Carelse
Replacements: 16 Guillermo Pujadas, 17 Fred Apulu, 18 Charlie Abel, 19 Mike Matarazzo, 20 Maclean Jones, 21 Jason Higgins, 22 Luke Carty, 23 Julián Domínguez
| MATCH INFO |
Date: Sunday, March 3
Venue: AutoNation Field, Fort Lauderdale
Kickoff: 17:30 local (14:30 Pacific, 16:30 Central)
Weather Forecast: cloudy, 77°F (25°C), wind S 9-14mph (12-17km/h)
Broadcasts: Bally Sports Sun, Marquee Sports, The Rugby Network
| OFFICIALS |
Referee: Kahlil Harrison (USA)
Assistants: Miles McIvor (USA) & Tom Ciampa (USA)
TMO: Amanda Cox (USA)
| HISTORY |
HEAD-TO-HEAD (0) – first game
