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Four players with Atlantic Canadian roots will be added to the Ontario Arrows squad for their historic match against the New England Free Jacks next Saturday. Canadian Rugby Championship standouts Alex Forrest, Moe Abdelmonem, Grant Crowell, and Cooper Coats will get their chance to impress the Arrows brass at Wanderers Grounds in Halifax ahead of the 2019 Major League Rugby season.
Two of them have already worn Arrows colors. Summerside, PEI, native Forrest played tighthead prop for the Arrows in their inaugural match against the Glendale Merlins in September of last year. He was then called up for the second of a two-game set against the Canada Selects in May. The 25-year-old has been a standout at loosehead with the Atlantic Rock in the CRC and will play for the Mudmen in the senior men’s Maritime club championship this weekend.
Coats, 22, was the leading points scorer in the 2018 CRC. The Halifax native is a flyhalf or fullback and was part of the Arrows squad in the spring campaign. After attending Acadia University on a soccer scholarship he recently moved to Victoria to join the Rugby Canada Centralized Training group.
A teammate of Coats at the Halifax Tars club, Abdelmonem has shot to prominence after two outstanding seasons as a breakdown disturber for the Rock. The specialist openside flanker shipped west to James Bay late last year but spent time with Spotswood United in New Zealand earlier this spring.
Crowell has enjoyed a breakthrough season at the back of the Prairie Wolf Pack scrum. He was the leading try-scorer in the CRC and the rampaging No8 earned selection to the Canada Selects squad for the trip to France. The 26-year-old hails from Wolfville, Nova Scotia, where he played for Acadia University before moving west to the Calgary Rams.
The Arrows play the Free Jacks at 2pm local time (1pm Eastern, 10am Pacific) on Saturday, October 20. Tickets are now available on their official website.
