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Shane O’Leary will be playing in Major League Rugby next year after signing on with the Toronto Arrows. The 29-year-old Irish-Canadian flyhalf makes the move to North America after spending the past decade playing professionally in Europe.
Originally from Cork, O’Leary first played for Canada at the 2013 Junior World Trophy. He qualifies through his New Brunswick-born mother. A senior test debut came in June 2017 against Georgia, and O’Leary would then earn selection to the 2019 World Cup. To date he has 14 caps but has not played for Canada since the tournament in Japan.
At the professional level O’Leary played for Munster at age-grade level before signing with French club Grenoble in 2013. He returned to Ireland with Connacht a year later, where he would stay until 2017 when he moved to England to play first for Ealing and then Nottingham.
For the past two seasons O’Leary has been on the books for Rouen Normandie in the French Pro D2. In his first season with the club he played 22 games with 14 starts, but injury restricted him this past year to just three appearances.
O’Leary takes the roster spot of Will Kelly, and gives the Arrows two experienced options at No10 along with incumbent starter Sam Malcolm. Kelly has moved abroad to play for English club Chinnor.
