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It’s a must-win game for the Toronto Arrows as they host the Seattle Seawolves on Sunday afternoon at York Alumni Field. With only six games left in the regular season there is precious little time to make up the points gap between playoff rivals Glendale and New York.
The Arrows have restored their first choice lineup despite claiming a bonus point win over Houston last weekend. Morgan Mitchell and Paul Ciulini come in at tighthead prop and lock respectively, with Cole Keith and Kolby Francis dropping to the bench.
Avery Oitomen misses out and Theo Sauder is in reserve as Spencer Jones is recalled at outside center and Gastón Mieres starts at fullback. Dan Moor switches to the wing and new signing Patrick Parfrey could make his Major League Rugby debut as a replacement.
Seattle are in a much better position having won three in a row including the nail-biting home victory over NOLA. There are three changes to the run-on side this week. One comes in the pack where Taylor Krumrei tags in for Jérémy Lenaerts at lock. Samu Manoa‘s unveiling will have to wait for now.
There is no sign of Ben Cima or George Barton in the backs. Instead JP Smith will start at flyhalf for the first time and Roland Suniula comes into the midfield. Scott Dean returns after a six-week absence to provide halfback cover, and Joey Iosefa fills the space left by Suniula’s promotion.
The Seawolves enter as favorites simply by way of standing but the loss of Cima, in particular, is significant. Toronto’s home field advantage is also helpful and the return of Mitchell and Ciulini will add power to the scrum. When these two teams met in Seattle it was a thrilling contest that came down to the wire. Expect another battle on Sunday.
Kickoff is set for 1pm local time, 10am Pacific. A local broadcast will be available on Root Sports in Seattle, with ESPN+ carrying the game nationwide. GameTV will show the match on delay in Canada. Those located outside the USA can access the live stream on the official MLR Facebook page.
TORONTO ARROWS
1 Rob Brouwer, 2 Andrew Quattrin, 3 Morgan Mitchell, 4 Mike Sheppard, 5 Paul Ciulini, 6 Lucas Rumball, 7 Peter Milazzo, 8 Marcello Wainwright, 9 Andrew Ferguson, 10 Sam Malcolm, 11 Dan Moor (capt.), 12 Guiseppe du Toit, 13 Spencer Jones, 14 Leandro Leivas, 15 Gastón Mieres
Replacements: 16 Steven Ng, 17 Pat Lynott, 18 Cole Keith, 19 Tom van Horne, 20 Kolby Francis, 21 Jamie Mackenzie, 22 Patrick Parfrey, 23 Theo Sauder
SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Kellen Gordon, 2 Stephan Coetzee, 3 Tim Metcher, 4 Taylor Krumrei, 5 Apisai Naikatini, 6 Brad Tucker, 7 Nakai Penny, 8 Riekert Hattingh, 9 Phil Mack, 10 JP Smith, 11 Sequoyah Burke-Combs, 12 Shalom Suniula (capt.), 13 Roland Suniula, 14 Brock Staller, 15 Mat Turner
Replacements: 16 Dan Trierweiler, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Ryan Youngman, 19 Jérémy Lenaerts, 20 Eric Duechle, 21 Scott Dean, 22 Joey Iosefa, 23 Dion Crowder
Date: Sunday, April 28
Venue: York Alumni Field, Toronto
Kickoff: 13:00 local (10:00 Pacific)
Referee: Scott Green (USAR)
Assistants: Moe Chaudhry (RC) & Peter Pender (RC)
Broadcasts: ESPN+, Facebook, GameTV (Delayed), Root Sports
