MLR Week 1 Wrapup: Standings, Results & Canadian Player Stats
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.
In the West San Diego and Houston go top of the table with bonus points wins and 5 points, Seattle is in 3rd with 4 points. Dallas, Chicago and Utah are at 0 points. In the East New England and Old Glory are at the top with 5 points, Atlanta is 3rd with 4 points, Arrows are 4th with 1 point and New York and New Orleans are at 0 points.
Next week there are 5 games on tap New York host Toronto, Seattle host Atlanta, Utah host Dallas, Houston host New Orleans and San Diego host New England.
For the full rosters check the team Twitter links below.
Old Glory DC 42 v Chicago Hounds 27 @ Segra Field @ 11am PST
Lindsey Stevens Chicago Hounds S
Cali Martinez Old Glory DC R
Gradyn Bowd Old Glory DC R
San Diego Legion 33 v Utah Warriors 17 Snapdragon Stadium @ 4pm PST
Djustice Sears-Duru San Diego Legion R
Seattle Seawolves 25 v Rugby New York 11 Starfire Stadium @ 6:30pm PST
Nakai Penny Seattle Seawolves R
Quinn Ngawati New York Ironworkers R
Andrew Coe New York Ironworkers S
February 19 – Sunday
Dallas Jackals 12 v Houston SaberCats 33 @ Choctaw Stadium @ 5pm PST
Liam Murray Dallas Jackals S
Dewald Kotze Dallas Jackals S
Kyle Steeves Dallas Jackals R
Robbie Povey Houston SaberCats R
*Rosters Announced for Friday Evening Matches Toronto @ Atlanta and New England @ New Orleans – 13 Canadian Starters, 11 Reserves: All BC Officiating Crew for Saturday’s NY @ Seattle*
The MLR kicks off this evening with Toronto @ Atlanta at 4pm PST and then New England @ New Orleans at 5pm PST. The matches are listed as available to stream on therugbynetwork.com
The full rosters are available on the teams Twitter accounts, we’ve linked them below. We’re interested in the Canadian players so will be focusing on that each week and have listed the Canadian Starters (S) and Reserves (R).
A side-note of interest to BC readers is that the officiating crew for Saturday’s New York @ Seattle match are from BC. Chris Assmus is the match official, Chris has done MLR before and has reffed at the international level. Brad Schwalger is one AR, he refs BC Premier matches on a regular basis. The other AR is Clint Lemkus, who was on track to be Canada’s tighthead at the 2019 World Cup before an injury ended his propping career. He focused on coaching and reffing and now he’s AR at this weekend’s MLR match. Good luck to all.
Rugby ATL 17 v Toronto Arrows 10 @ Silverbacks Park @ 4pm PST
Atlanta are missing two of their high profile Canadian players in this match Matt Heaton and George Barton. Jack Shaw starts on the wing with Seth Purdey in the reserves.
Toronto have 9 Canadian starters, only 1 in the tight five, Mason Flesch, but a full Canadian backrow with Rumball, Larsen and Thomas. Cole Davis and Nic Benn on the wings and Mitch Richardson in the centre. Ross Braude is the scrum half and Ciaran Breen at fullback. We’re expecting a good performance from Breen who was on fire for the Pacific Pride before he went to the MLR.
We think the Arrows should get their first win of the season, Atlanta doesn’t look as strong this season based on preseason results.
Mason Flesch Toronto Arrows S
Corey Thomas Toronto Arrows S
Lucas Rumball Toronto Arrows S
Travis Larsen Toronto Arrows S
Ross Braude Toronto Arrows S
Mitch Richardson Toronto Arrows S
Nic Benn Toronto Arrows S
Cole Davis Toronto Arrows S
Ciaran Breen Toronto Arrows S
Jack McRogers Toronto Arrows R
Tyler Rowland Toronto Arrows R
Mike Sheppard Toronto Arrows R
Adrian Wadden Toronto Arrows R
Cole Brown Toronto Arrows R
Shane O’Leary Toronto Arrows R
Jack Shaw Rugby Atlanta S
Seth Purdey Rugby Atlanta R
New Orleans Gold 12 v New England Free Jacks 36 @ The Gold Mine @ 5pm
PST
Three Canadian starters for the Free Jacks, Cole Keith in the front row at tighthead prop, Josh Larsen second row and Spencer Jones at inside centre. Foster Dewitt is a prop replacement, Andrew Quattrin the back up hooker and Conor Keys a second row back up.
NOLA only have one Canadian on their roster, Eric Howard, who is the reserve hooker.
We’re pulling for New England in this one and predicting they’ll start their season with a win.
Cole Keith New England Free Jacks S
Josh Larsen New England Free Jacks S
Spencer Jones New England Free Jacks S
Foster DeWitt New England Free Jacks R
Andrew Quattrin New England Free Jacks R
Conor Keys New England Free Jacks R
Eric Howard New Orleans Gold R
*MLR Kicks Off on Friday: A Look at Week 1 Schedule and Broadcast Coverage*
The Major League Rugby (MLR) season kicks off on Friday, here is the Week 1 schedule.
The official website, www.majorleague.rugby notes on the schedule which networks will be covering matches. The go to site for live streaming is TRN, The Rugby Network, at therugbynetwork.com. Currently TRN are showing all six matches available in Canada but that may change when geo-blocking restrictions are brought in later in the week. MLR shows the Arrows game as being on TSN and TRN but usually if TSN is carrying the match, it will be geo-blocked in Canada. Checking the TSN schedule there’s no listing of the match as of Monday but that could change. The Arrows announced they’ll be releasing the broadcast schedule later in the week. Also the San Diego v Utah game and the Seattle v New York games are listed as FS1 and FS2 but no TRN, so we’ll see if TRN drops those from their website later in the week. The Week 1 schedule is listed below for the PST timezone.
As mentioned before we’ve started a spreadsheet to monitor the Canadian players who are starting (S) or on the reserves (R) each week so we’ll have a clear indication by the end of the season who is getting game time. We’ll update this article on Friday when the rosters have been made available.
February 17 – Friday
Rugby ATL v Toronto Arrows @ Silverbacks Park @ 4pm PST
New Orleans Gold v New England Free Jacks @ The Gold Mine @ 5pm PST
February 18 – Saturday
Old Glory DC v Chicago Hounds @ Segra Field @ 11am PST
San Diego Legion v Utah Warriors Snapdragon Stadium @ 4pm PST
Seattle Seawolves v Rugby New York Starfire Stadium @ 6:30pm PST
February 19 – Sunday
Dallas Jackals v Houston SaberCats @ Choctaw Stadium @ 5pm PST
If you want to follow the league and teams on Twitter, here are their handles.
East
@TorontoArrows
@rugbyATL
@nolagoldrugby
@NEFreeJacks
@OldGloryDC
@rugbynewyork
West
@SDLegion
@utwarriorsrugby
@SeawolvesRugby
@HoundsChicago
@DallasJackals
@Hou_Sabercats
Hashtag
#MLR2023