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The Arrows finally get to celebrate their home opener on Saturday when the Ironworkers arrives at York Lions Stadium. Toronto fans have shared six weeks of pain with their team but will hope a little home cooking can spur the players on against the defending champions New York.
A single victory over Chicago is all the Arrows have to show for their six-week road trip to start the campaign, which ended with a historic defeat in Dallas. Their injury list remains astoundingly long but five reinforcements have arrived over the past two weeks and all are in the match day squad.
With three senior props missing it’s a makeshift front row. Ramón Ayarza starts at his original position of loosehead prop with Gene Syminton at hooker and Lolani Faleiva wearing the No3 shirt for the first time. Marc-Antoine Ouellet is back with the team to provide specialist tighthead cover. Mitch Eadie is out after taking a bang against the Jackals so Owain Ruttan returns in the back row, and new second row Shay Kerry will make his Major League Rugby debut as a replacement.
There is good news with the return of Shane O’Leary to the lineup. He makes his first start six weeks after being a late scratch for the away game to New York. Mitch Richardson is also back from injury and runs out on the left wing, with newcomer D’Shawn Bowen getting a first start on the right. Sam Malcolm switches to fullback for the first time this season. Canadian international Peter Nelson settles for a spot among the reserves in his first MLR action.
New York picked up a solid win at home against ATL to put two poor performances behind them. They are also dealing with some injures after losing Pago Haini and Teofilo Fidow last week. Nic Mayhew is also ruled out, and with Tevita Langi unavailable to make the trip there are some creative selections in the Ironworkers front row as well.
USA Falcons hooker Kaleb Geiger will line up at tighthead prop for the first time, with Anthony Parry recalled as reserve loosehead. DaQuan Perry could make his pro debut as a replacement hooker. Kara Pryor comes back in at No8 in place of Haini, and Brad Tucker returns from injury on the bench.
There are just two changes to the backline. Conor McManus is restored at scrumhalf after playing second-fiddle to Connor Buckley last week. With Fidow expected to be out for several weeks it’s Quinn Ngawati who gets the first opportunity to fill the No11 void, giving the Ironworkers two Canadian wingers along with Andrew Coe.
Cool but sunny weather is on the forecast. When the two teams met earlier this season it was a blowout win for New York but Toronto have a much stronger backline on this occasion. Ayarza should have the advantage over inexperienced Geiger in the scrum, but whether that will be enough to throw off the Ironworkers remains to be seen. Give the visitors the favorites tag, but expect a significantly improved performance from the Arrows in front of their home fans.
Kickoff is set for 4pm local time, 1pm Pacific. Canadian viewers can watch on TSN 2, with a local broadcast available on the MSG Network in New York. Those located elsewhere can watch a live stream on The Rugby Network.
TORONTO ARROWS
1 Ramón Ayarza, 2 Gene Syminton, 3 Lolani Faleiva, 4 Mike Sheppard, 5 Adrian Wadden, 6 Owain Ruttan, 7 James O’Neill, 8 Lucas Rumball (capt.), 9 Ross Braude, 10 Shane O’Leary, 11 Mitch Richardson, 12 Noel Reid, 13 Fabian Goodall, 14 D’Shawn Bowen, 15 Sam Malcolm
Replacements: 16 Jack McRogers, 17 Nik Hildebrand, 18 Marc-Antoine Ouellet, 19 Hank Stevenson, 20 Shay Kerry, 21 Will Grant, 22 Dawson Fatoric, 23 Peter Nelson
NEW YORK IRONWORKERS
1 Chance Wenglewski, 2 Dylan Fawsitt, 3 Kaleb Geiger, 4 Nate Brakeley (capt.), 5 Hamish Dalzell, 6 Benjamín Bonasso, 7 Joe Basser, 8 Kara Pryor, 9 Conor McManus, 10 Jack Heighton, 11 Quinn Ngawati, 12 Teihorangi Walden, 13 Fa’asiu Fuatai, 14 Andrew Coe, 15 Nick Feakes
Replacements: 16 DaQuan Perry, 17 Anthony Parry, 18 Sam Davies, 19 Charlie Hewitt, 20 Brad Tucker, 21 Connor Buckley, 22 Jason Emery, 23 John Powers
Date: Saturday, April 8
Venue: York Lions Stadium, Toronto
Kickoff: 16:00 local (13:00 Pacific)
Broadcasts: MSG Network, The Rugby Network, TSN 2
Referee: Robin Kaluzniak (Canada)
Assistants: Michael Jones (Canada) & Peter Pender (Canada)
TMO: Andrew Hosie (Canada)
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2023-02-26 – New York Ironworkers 39, Toronto Arrows 3 (Memorial Field)
2022-05-08 – Toronto Arrows 17, Rugby New York 41 (York Lions Stadium)
2022-03-27 – Rugby New York 10, Toronto Arrows 14 (John F. Kennedy Stadium)
2021-06-26 – Toronto Arrows 24, Rugby United New York 31 (Lupo Family Field)
2021-04-25 – Rugby United New York 12, Toronto Arrows 53 (Cochrane Stadium)
2019-06-02 – Toronto Arrows 22, Rugby United New York 20 (Lamport Stadium)
2019-03-15 – Rugby United New York 24, Toronto Arrows 21 (MCU Park)
