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As the sun finally shows its face in the northern corners of Major League Rugby‘s reach, the pictures of Glendale’s win over Toronto in blizzard-like conditions seem even further detached from reality. The Raptors earned a shutout win in that calamitous affair but Sunday’s match against the Arrows is unlikely to bare even the slightest resemblance.
Toronto have now rattled off five wins in a row and have jumped ahead of Glendale in the standings. After a well-earned weekend off to recuperate, the Arrows are back at it with a strong roster minus three injured internationals – Lucas Rumball, Jamie Mackenzie, and Theo Sauder.
Rob Brouwer comes back into the front row and Paul Ciulini adds ballast at lock in the only changes to the forwards that got the better of Utah two weeks ago. In the backs it’s Andrew Ferguson who is restored at scrumhalf and there are new wingers in Leandro Leivas and captain Dan Moor.
Glendale are down to last chance saloon. Anything less than victory will see last year’s finalists eliminated from Semi Final contention. Bad news never comes alone, and there is more for Raptors fans as midfield star Robbie Petzer is ruled out and flanker Peter Dahl is unavailable.
In another intriguing twist, Dave Williams has left his captain Shaun Davies on the bench with Carlo de Nysschen instead getting the start at scrumhalf. Mika Kruse comes in for Petzer and Campbell Johnstone is on the bench, still to make his MLR debut.
With Hanco Germishuys still short of fitness it’s Malon Al-Jiboori who is asked to fill in at openside flank, with Brendan Daly sliding to the blindside. Will Munro fills the second row vacancy and Kelepi Fifita continues to deputise for the injured Marco Fepulea’i at tighthead prop.
This is a tough ask for Glendale. With their backs against the wall and coming off a deflating loss to Seattle last week, asking the sore bodies to travel north of the border and front up against an Arrows side on a mission seems a step too far. Look for Toronto’s scrum to be a dominant force in a comfortable win for the home side.
Kickoff is set for 2pm local, 11am Pacific, noon Mountain time. The match will be broadcast nationwide on ESPN+. Those in Canada can watch on GameTV, or access the international 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 John Moonlight, 7 Peter Milazzo, 8 Luke Campbell, 9 Andrew Ferguson, 10 Sam Malcolm, 11 Leandro Leivas, 12 Guiseppe du Toit, 13 Spencer Jones, 14 Dan Moor (capt.), 15 Gastón Mieres
Replacements: 16 Steven Ng, 17 Pat Lynott, 18 Cole Keith, 19 Tom van Horne, 20 Marcello Wainwright, 21 Riley DiNardo, 22 Patrick Parfrey, 23 Kainoa Lloyd
GLENDALE RAPTORS
1 Noah Barker, 2 Zach Fenoglio, 3 Kelepi Fifita, 4 Will Munro, 5 Luke White (capt.), 6 Brendan Daly, 7 Malon Al-Jiboori, 8 Murphy Taramai, 9 Carlo de Nysschen, 10 Will Magie, 11 Harley Davidson, 12 Chad London, 13 Mika Kruse, 14 John Ryberg, 15 Dylan Taikato-Simpson
Replacements: 16 Chad Gough, 17 Max Lum, 18 Blake Rogers, 19 Kody O’Neil, 20 Connor Cook, 21 Shaun Davies, 22 Ata Malifa, 23 Campbell Johnstone
Date: Sunday, May 26
Venue: Lamport Stadium, Toronto
Kickoff: 14:00 local (11:00 Pacific, 12:00 Mountain)
Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe (RFU)
Assistants: Moe Chaudhry (RC) & Michael Jones (RC)
Broadcasts: ESPN+, Facebook, GameTV
