Of the 60 Canadian players listed on the 12 MLR teams 17 started, 18 were in reserve and 25 didn’t get onto the rosters in Week 1. The Canadian players are listed in the match results below.
We listed below the Canadian players, we believe, who will be playing in MLR 2023. We compiled the list from Wiki and also Americas Rugby News, who seem an up to date source. There are 59 players on the list with Toronto, as expected, having the largest number of Canadians. New England, surprisingly, is amassing an impressive number of Canadians in their roster.
The MLR schedule for 2023 has been published, the link is here: www.majorleague.rugby/schedules/
There are 18 weeks with each team getting 16 matches, 8 home and 8 away. The regular season wraps up June 18th.
The MLR officially confirmed the Giltinis from LA and the Gilronis from Austin will be out of the MLR competition in 2023. Both teams, owned by Australian Adam Gilchrist, were kicked out of the playoffs last year due to, apparently, violating league rules. These violations were wideley considered to be salary cap violations, exceeding the league rules on player salaries. LA and Austin were the top two teams in the standings in the Western Conference and were contenders for the title. LA had a number of Canadian players including DTH, Lindsey Stevens, Ben Lesage, Djustice Sears-Duru and Corey Thomas.
There were four Canadians drafted in Round 1, Cali Martinez went as 3rd pick to DC, Seth Purdey went to Atlanta as 4th pick, Owain Ruttan was 5th pick by Toronto and Ethan Hager went 8th pick to Dallas.
Canada placed two players on the MLR 2nd XV team, missing out on the 1st XV and the honorable mentions. Cole Keith was selected loosehead prop and Andrew Coe on the wing. Neither player was in the match 23 against Belgium last weekend.
New York defeated Seattle in the MLR final 30-15. Scoring for New York were Will Tucker, Andy Ellis, Nic Mayhew plus a 7 point penalty try when Seattle pulled down a maul that was crossing the line. Jason Emery kicked a conversion and penalty and Sam Windsor added a drop goal. Seattle scorers were Martin Iosefo and Sam Metenga, Alatimu added a conversion and penalty.
This weekend is the MLR final between New York and Seattle but there’s another battle brewing and it’s not on the field.
The MLR season is almost over with the Division finals this weekend and the league final next weekend. There are 8 Canadians in action with New England having the most Canadians in the roster.
New York and Seattle have advanced to their division finals next week. New York will visit New England and Seattle will visit Houston.