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The Arrows raced back, winning the ball off a San Diego lineout deep in the Legion end. Then San Diego replacement prop Aaron Mitchell was called in the 77th minute, this time for a professional foul in deliberately slowing down the play

Toronto (7-5-0) opted for the scrum in front of the posts and Ng bulled his way over with Malcolm’s conversion making it 23-19, good for the Arrows’ third-straight win.

JP du Plessis and Mike Te’o also scored tries for San Diego, which led 12-6 at the half after a pair of opportunistic tries. Pietersen kicked two conversions.

Malcolm added three penalties for Toronto.

“It was a tough battle, a see-saw battle today,” said Malcolm, a pocket-sized fly half from New Zealand. “Credit to the boys. We dug in for the last 10, 15 minutes and we were just lucky enough to get a win in front of our home fans.”

It was the first game on the artificial turf at Lamport Stadium for the expansion Arrows, who played their first three home contests at York Alumni Stadium in the north of the city. The crowd was announced at 2,229 on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

On Saturday, the Toronto Wolfpack defeated the Bradford Bulls 36-16 at Lamport before an announced crowd of 8,363 in Betfred Championship rugby league play.

The Wolfpack, in their third year, have been around longer and are more liberal in giving away tickets.

The Arrows dominated early on Sunday but the San Diego defence held firm and the Legion led at the half on the back of two tries against the run of play.