CanCon Rules as Arrows Meet Free Jacks
After a narrow loss to the New York Ironworkers last week, the Toronto Arrows welcome the Eastern Conference leading New England Free Jacks to town. The Free Jacks boast a 5-2-0 record, but are undefeated within the Eastern Conference. The Arrows will be looking to change that on Saturday night.
Starting XV
Toronto
The Arrows continue to battle injuries and have 12 players on the injured list this week. The good news is that Mason Flesch and Mitch Eadie return to the lineup. The bad news is that Sam Malcolm is out with a concussion following an aerial collision with Andrew Coe last week. Malcolm will be replaced by recent signing Peter Nelson, who will make his first Arrows start at fullback. Shay Kerry will also be making his first Arrows start. The addition of Flesch and Kerry to the back row sees James O’Neill back on the bench following a performance that earned him a spot in the MLR team of the week. D’Shawn Bowen will look to follow up his incredible 3 try performance. He will join Nelson and Dawson Fatoric in the Arrows back three. A new midfield combination will see Noel Reid and Mitch Richardson together.
On the bench, Connor Grindal is set to make his MLR debut. The 24-year-old prop arrived to the Arrows from Gordon in the Sydney Rugby Union Premiership. He is Australian born, but both his parents are Canadian making him a domestic player in MLR. The new midfield combination listed above also sees Fabian Goodall coming off the bench as the Arrows have a 5-3 split.
New England Free Jacks
No American MLR club boasts more Canadians on their roster than the New England Free Jacks. They are of course captained by Josh Larsen, who is unfortunately out due to injury. Eight Canadians will feature in the Free Jacks match day squad with five starting and three on the bench. The starting XV sees Conor Keys return after serving a one-game suspension. He will be joined by four former Arrows in Andrew Quattrin, Cole Keith, Ben LeSage, and Spencer Jones. On the bench Reegan O’Gorman makes his 2023 season debut as he returns from injury. He will be joined by Foster Dewitt and Issac Olson. Other notes from the Free Jacks lineup sees Le Roux Malan starting at centre for the first time and Slade McDowall on the bench as he also returns from injury. McDowall’s inclusion gives the Free Jacks a 6-2 split on the bench.
Player to Watch
Again this is one of those games where I want to say “everybody”. There are plenty of Canadians on both sides and each lineup is strong. However, I think the most interesting player in this match might be Peter Nelson. Nelson was signed to the club last week and played 7 minutes after the injury to Malcolm. Nelson will be making his first start for the Arrows and will likely be playing fullback until Malcolm can return. Nelson has plenty of experience from overseas and with the Canadian National Team. However, Malcolm has big shoes to fill so all eyes will be on Nelson tonight.
Storylines
Rugby Night in Canada
Saturday night is a precious sporting time slot in Canadian culture, so it is fitting that this match will feature a plethora of Canadians. The Arrows are of course Canada’s team and will feature 16 Canadians on Saturday night. The Free Jacks will bring the total number of Canadians in the match up to 24. Additionally, the two assistant referees (Pete Pender and Michael Jones) and the TMO (Andrew Hosie) are all Canadian.
Kingsley Jones and Rugby Canada will no doubt be keeping a close eye on this match. The amount of Canadians in both squads creates plenty of tantalizing one-on-one matchups. Adrian Wadden vs Conor Keys at lock, Ben LeSage vs Mitch Richardson at outside centre, and Peter Nelson vs Spencer Jones at fullback.
Some added spice may be in the front row as New England brings an All-North American front row vs the All-International front row of Toronto. Ultimately, former Arrows Andrew Quattrin and Cole Keith will get to go head to head in the scrum against Ramon Ayarza and Gene Syminton, the two players the Arrows signed to fill that gap. Of course, depending on when both coaches decide to deploy the benches, Foster Dewitt, Jack McRogers, Connor Grindal, and Nik Hildebrand will all get thrown into this mix.
Ultimately, Canadians always seem to raise their game when they are playing each other. Corey Thomas mentioned that this was the match he was looking forward to the most when we asked him on the podcast before the season started. Although Thomas is injured, it is probably safe to say that most of the players on both sides feel the same way. This should be fun!
High-Tempo Attack
The Arrows found success last week against New York by attacking the width of the pitch. The Arrows used the width of the field masterfully as D’Shawn Bowen ran in 3 tries and Rumball added another as the Arrows played expansive rugby. Ross Braude and Shane O’Leary did a great job of keeping the high tempo up. Braude will need to look for quick ball and have O’Leary incorporate the forwards into the attack. New England has an incredibly strong defence. You can’t give them an opportunity to reset following linebreaks. This also means that the forwards will need to be quick in support to clear out rucks. The Arrows earned a try bonus point for the first time this season last week. They will need to continue this high-tempo attack to have success against New England. As a side note, they really can’t waste any opportunities inside the 22. New England has a strong defence, but also an attack that can quickly make you regret any mistakes.
The Academy
The Arrows Sr Academy will play a match against Rugby Quebec as the curtain raiser for this match. Brenden Black and Hank Stevenson will be in the lineup for this match. Additionally, Tom Artmann, Jacob Ince, and David Scollon have been training with the Arrows all season as part of the Arrows High Performance Academy with Black and Stevenson. It will be a great chance to check out some of the up and coming Arrows as well as the next generation of Canadian rugby players. The match will kick off at 3pm at York University Alumni Stadium, which is beside York Lions Stadium.
The big club will kickoff against the New England Free Jacks at 6pm. If you can’t make it down to York Lions Stadium, cancel those plans because nothing will possibly be better than this! However, you will still be able to catch the game on TSN2 or all the TSN streaming platforms. You can follow all the action on twitter @BressetteTheJet.