The shine has far from faded on the seven original teams of Major League Rugby, but there’s just always something so intriguing, so inviting about prospects new. And that shiny something new, along with Rugby United New York, is the Toronto Arrows. The first team from the great white north –despite the Seattle Seawolves‘ high volume of employment of Canadian players– comes with plenty of promise of being immediately competitive atop the MLR table.

Stacked with Canadian national team talent, the Arrows have shredded through a lengthy exhibition build up. First announced back in July 2018, the team wasn’t officially announced until November. Much of that complication came from the logistical speed bumps as the first franchise across the border, as president and co-founder Bill Webb put it. “I think the trickiest thing, quite frankly, was really more technical, and legal, and tax-related cause we’re the first Canadian entity into the league. Now what we did was we engaged some very good lawyers at Goodmans [LLP] here in Toronto, who helped us and the league. And they had worked with MLS, and they’re really outstanding lawyers. And we used Deloitte as our accountants, and they were very experienced in working with MLS as well and helping Toronto FC join and function in Major League Soccer,” Webb states. “They’ve done this rodeo before and helped us and the league get all the pieces in place such that we could join. It was a lot of work and it was reasonably expensive but good long-term thing for the league cause you know hopefully there will be maybe more than one Canadian team one day or there could be one from Mexico. I think they wanted this to be a truly a North American, not just an American league. So that was the trickiest, just getting through all the paperwork and the legal stuff.”

First Taste Is Free

The Arrows tested their mettle through a 2018 exhibition season. “What we decided to do was run an exhibition season as sort of an R&D [research and development] proof of concept season. So we got a group of investors together, of which I was the lead investor, we funded an exhibition season and we played I guess a total of about eight games in our exhibition season, which finished up really in a big game we played against Glendale in late September,” added Bill.

“It was a very successful exhibition season and really a number of things had to fall in place. One, we had to be competitive, which we proved we could be. Two, that we could put a team together, we could pull a staff together, and that we could be competitive. And for that period of time was on a purely volunteer basis, for that exhibition season nobody got paid. We looked after transportation, and food, and the commodation, but nobody was on a salary, nobody was getting paid. But everybody wanted it. So we proved we could do it competitively; people came out to the games that we played at home, it was a good fan response; corporate sponsors stepped up and got behind it; and investors got behind it. And players put in a really huge effort and showed that they wanted it, so as a result, we decided to apply formally for membership in the league.”

That exhibition campaign included seven games played after a match against RUNY would get canceled –a bit of a repeating theme that would show up in the two team’s build-up to their expansion seasons. They’d finish 3-3-1 with standouts being a draw to the Houston Sabercats, a win over the Utah Warriors, and thrashing over club outfit Mystic River Rugby. They’d follow that spring schedule with fall matchups against the Glendale Raptors, a 40-18 win, albeit not against a full roster and the first matchup against Boston’s expansion into Major League Rugby in what would be the first match ever for the New England Freejacks. That came to a tune of a 40-14 victory. A game set over the weekend at the Buffalo Bills Fieldhouse, again with RUNY, would not go underway after the RUNY bus was involved in a traffic accident, preventing their travel. The Arrows would play an intra-squad matchup, boasting their new Toronto Arrows colors and old Ontario orange and blues.

Weight of a Country

It sort of goes without saying that the Toronto Arrows will carry a particular weight on their shoulders as the first professional rugby team in Canada. The weight is all the more heightened as Rugby Canada, particularly on the men’s senior national side, has faced a trying year… one that nearly came down to the Canucks missing the Rugby World Cup for the first time ever. But they’d ultimately survive the Repechage Tournament, ousting Hong Kong, Germany, and Kenya to secure a ticket to Japan, even if by the final thread.

“As a Canadian team, by design about 85% of our roster are Canadians and it doesn’t have to be that way but we started with a core of players that some of whom have played with each other with the Ontario Blues, played against each other with the Ontario and other Canadian provincial club systems, some had played on the national team together,” said Webb. “And I think just knowing the Canadian landscape and knowing these players, we’ve started with a core of Canadians complemented with some very very good international talent.”

“They’re proud ambassadors and they love the sport and they want to give back. They want to be great role models and they wanna see the numbers growing and wanna see our standing in the world improve. It’s been a tough go for Canadian senior men’s rugby, we almost missed the World Cup and our ranking has slipped,” Bill adds. “One of the key reasons why it has slipped is lack of professional rugby. Now these guys understand they are pioneers. Everybody in the MLR is a pioneer. But our guys, excuse the pun, they are the arrowheads, the spearhead for Canada and they’re gonna have a big impact on the quality of our game at the national and international level, and they know that.”

And as we’ve seen with USA Rugby and Major League Rugby, the Arrows already have a harmonious relationship with Rugby Canada, which is good because seven Arrows were recently announced to Canada’s Americas Rugby Championship roster. That national level impact will chip into the professional team’s success, much as we saw and expect to see again from the San Diego Legion. With the ARC running from February to March, and in a crucial Rugby World Cup year, that time away for some of the team’s finest will no doubt impact results. Even when returned from those international duties, the team will have to ensure they don’t overstrain the players and leave them fresh enough to have positive impacts in the season but also be able to be ready to go later this year in Japan.

“We’re working very closely with Rugby Canada,” said Webb. “We’ve developed a very good relationship with Rugby Canada and with all our provincial sports organizations, the provincial rugby unions, to align with on things like we have the ARC coming up; a number of players are going to get called to play in the ARC and we talk about that with our national coaches. Obviously, our big priorities is for the nation to do the best, as well as it possibly can. Sort of thoughtful ways in terms of monitoring player health and welfare. The coach informing us in advance of which players he thinks he’s gonna to select and how he’s going to rotate them through. We’ve made sure that we’ve got sufficient depth to deal with that when we lose those players, plus there will be the unexpected things of injuries, but we’ve got a really great working relationship with the national coaching staff and with our national body. We don’t view it as adversarial. Our philosophy is Canada comes first.”

That thoughtfulness doesn’t simply apply to those with international duties, though. “It’s a long season, right, no one in North America, no one in this league has played 16 games of regular season rugby in this short a period of time. Eighteen if you make it to the final games. It’s a lot of rugby in a short period of time, so the challenge is going to be to stay healthy, to have depth, pace yourself, not overtrain, and to make sure that we’re thoughtful about our travel schedule. Eight weeks on the road, there’ll be a couple of times when we won’t come home. We’ll stay in the city for a couple of days or got to the next city, chill, train for a couple of days without coming home, especially on some of those west coast trips. So we’re working that into our schedule, rather than to do two cross-continent flights in the same week, which are not good with wear and tear on the body and jetlag and etc. We’re really trying to be thoughtful about how we pace ourself with every regard.”

At the sacrifice of their own MLR success, the Toronto Arrows have already made a major impact at the national level. “I think even in a small degree the Arrows were helpful to Canada in preparing for the Repechage, where we qualified for the World Cup by the skin of our teeth. A number of Arrows players were in that Repechage roster, including a few new faces. Guys like Mike Sheppard, who are now part of the Canadian squad, who got a shot I think because of their exposure through the Arrows. I think a lot of those players that played with the Arrows were better players going into the repechage because of the amount of additional training and high-level matches that they had during our exhibition season.”

Talented You Say?

The most important thing to be mindful of as the MLR season comes bearing down upon us is that the Arrows boast one of the most talented rosters in Major League Rugby right off the bat. That talent pool of the expansive Canada is surely coming to their aid in a major way.

Up front, they’re anchored by a talented forward pack, which Webb admits will be one of the team’s biggest strengths. They dueled well with the Raptors in September and pushed the Freejacks all over the pitch in whispy conditions in Halifax later in the month. Rob Brouwer is a bulldog in the front row bolstered by the likes of Morgan Mitchell, Tom Dolezel, or Cole Keith as opposite props. Hooker is likely where they’re least daunting in the front row, with a handful of Canadian U20 stars assuming the two shirt.

Mike Sheppard and Paul Ciulini will be major factors at lock and the number eight will be fought for between Kolby Francis and England U20 man Jack Nay, flanked by a strong bunch featuring Lucas Rumball, Peter Milazzo, and John Moonlight.

Sam Malcolm comes in at fly half as a foreign import, the New Zealand man comes from the Mitre 10 Manawatu Rugby Football Union and will be a critical part of the Arrows’ kicking game. Jamie Mackenzie, Andrew Ferguson, and Riley DiNardo are a talented and deep bunch that can assume the nine jersey.

Guiseppe du Toit is the highlight in the centers while the wings feature some South American talent in Uruguayan national men Leandro Leivas and Gastón Mieres with Canadian Dan Moor. Theo Sauder is the man Canada is calling upon for the ARC at full back, but Wales U18’s Jack Evans remains an intriguing player lurking in the depths.

This roster has already proven they’re up to MLR standards, now what can they manage through the course of a challenging full season?

High Expectations

High expectations can be damning to efforts, but the Arrows enter the MLR with far too much to play for to simply disappoint. They’re the one of the first among the eastern block of teams that could truly turn the league on its head, playing with a whole country in their corner. Travel will play a major factor for both east coast teams, who have the most mileage set to hit their tread this season.

“We would like to make the playoffs, we believe we can make the playoffs, We want to play to our highest potential, that’s what we really want to do is make sure that we prepare really well, that we’re organized, that we maintain our strong and healthy team culture. Part of that comes from the fact that many of the guys know each other, have played with our against each other growing up in this country at high levels. They know each other,” closes Webb. “There’s a high Canadian content and our team has a very, I describe it as a very intense but laid back, very chill and relaxed approach to the game. We work hard but we don’t get too worked up, it’s sort of the Canadian way. Do your talking on the field. But our goal is to make the playoffs and to compete for the championship. And we think that to make the playoffs certainly is a very realistic goal. We would be disappointed if we didn’t.”

Look for the Arrow to be constant threats to the top four this season. They’ll get their campaign underway against NOLA Gold on January 26.

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