O’Leary to Arrows; Canada 7s for 2023; Pride to SLAR Rumours; Americas Rugby Trophy Updates
Shane O’Leary to Arrows
The Toronto Arrows announced the signing of Shane O’Leary. O’Leary had been playing rugby at Rouen in the Pro D2 which is the second level of French rugby. He played for Canada U20 in 2013 and helped them to a second place finish behind Italy at the JWRT. We posted an article on him in 2014 as he was joining Connacht and did an interview in May 2013 when he was preparing for the JWRT and was in Langford. Those articles are here.
The 29 year old O’Leary has 14 caps for Canada from June 2017 to October 2019. He had 9 starts at flyhalf, 2 reserve appearances at flyhalf, 2 reserve appearances at fullback and one reserve appearance at centre. Canada’s record in those 14 matches was 1 win (Brazil), 1 draw (USA), and 12 losses. He also played in some Canada ‘A’ matches during the Pacific Nations Cup. By the time of the 2019 RWC, Kingsley Jones had gone with Peter Nelson as the #1 flyhalf, O’Leary was named to the bench for the Namibia match but that match never took place. He was named to the 40 player long list for the July 2021 tests along with Peter Nelson and Will Kelly. Neither Kelly or O’Leary got selected for the tour and Peter Nelson started at #10, Rob Povey was the backup.
The move from Pro D2 to MLR may seem a step down for him and on his twitter account he announced he’s “excited to be able directly help grow the game in Canada & raise the standard”. The incumbent #10 for the Arrows is NZ player Sam Malcolm, whether O’Leary replaces him in that role will be one of the sub-stories for the 2023 MLR season. The previous backup to Malcolm was Will Kelly who moved to Chinoor in the National League 1 which is the third level of English rugby.
Canada 7s for 2023
It used to be that Rugby Canada would just announce who was carded for the upcoming season, that’s not the way anymore, it’s difficult to figure out what the Rugby Canada communication policy is now or indeed if they have one. The fact they can’t keep a person in the Communication position for any length of time is another issue. Never fear, Jake Thiel is here. Jake recently posted a list of teammates for the upcoming season on Instagram with a snappy video, we’ve posted befow as a .gif (we like gifs). So it looks like Jake Thiel, Phil Berna, Anton Ngongo, Brock Webster, Kal Sager, Matt Oworu, Callum Botchar, Jarvis Dashkewytch, Thomas Isherwood, Cooper Coats, Alex Russell, David Richard, Lockie Kratz, Brennig Prevost, Josiah Morra, Elias Ergas in no particular order. It looks like Kal and Callum are the new kids on the block in their 1st season. Who isn’t there, well Nick Allen who has already posted he’s not happy with the decision and is now playing XVs with JBAA. We also didn’t notice Noah Bain, playing XVs with Ravens, and D’Shawn Bowen.
Pride to SLAR Rumour
This is the latest rumor, the Pacific Pride to SLAR, the South America equivalent to MLR. Paul Tait, the editor of ARN, started it with a tweet, “SLAR 2023 rumors – In Tucumán, Pacific Pride, Colorado Raptors – Out Cafeteros Pro [Colombia]”. Bryan Ray also of ARN added fuel to the fire, “I’m told to expect an announcement from Rugby Canada soon. I have no idea how the logistics are going to work. Significant financial support is coming from World Rugby.” The only inside info I was able to muster was along the lines of – at this point it’s all rumour. So what about the next point? Will it evolve beyond rumour, no idea. Sounds interesting though. First question that came to mind is how much to join SLAR, it’s about $5 million to join MLR by last count, maybe higher now, what’s the SLAR buy in. I think SLAR is more about development whereas MLR is about growing professional rugby franchises with lots of imports. LA brings in Matt Giteau, they win, they bring in more imports, the MLR owners kick them out for exceeding spending limits. The Colorado Raptors left MLR to focus on developing American players and Pacific Pride focuses exclusively on Canada eligible players. SLAR countries 2-0 on getting into World Cup 2023 (Uruguay, Chile), MLR countries (0-2) on getting into World Cup 2023, but USA still in repechage loop. So our view, why not, if World Rugby are footing the bill. We’ll see if there is indeed a correlation between the smoke of rumours and the fire of reality.
Americas Rugby Trophy Updates
Another fail for Rugby Canada communication. Brazil as host are already posting the time and broadcast information for the matches, Rugby Canada haven’t even acknowledged they’re attending the tournament or indicated when they’re posting the player list.
