The Toronto Arrows host the Glendale Raptors on May 26 at 2 pm at Lamport Stadium. Tickets are still available and for those who can’t attend, the match is being broadcast on ESPN+ and on GameTV.
The Toronto Arrows have a 9-5 record and are one point behind Rugby United New York for the last playoff spot. The teams will meet on June 2 in the last regular season match in Toronto.
The Glendale Raptors are 7-5-2 with 43 points. They are in 6th place and conclude their season on May 29 in Houston against the SaberCats. They need two bonus point wins and a slip from at least one of the current second through fourth teams.
Match Comments
With the playoffs on the line, the snow match 22-0 loss by the Arrows to the Raptors on March 2 will not be a factor. The match will feature Glendale’s attack vs the Arrows defense.
Glendale is the third leading team on the attack. They are a possession driven team (55%), spend more time in their opponents’ territory (53%), and more minutes on the attack (43.7). The Arrows stats are 48, 45, and 38.7, respectively. The Raptors score more tries 60 to 54 but also concede more 53 to 45. Glendale averages 30.5 points per match while the Arrows are close behind with 28.3.
Toronto is the fourth leading team on attack and is often explosive in attacks. They face a Raptors team ranked sixth on defense and that is penalized more often at 9.7 per match vs 8.4 for the Arrows. Look for the Arrows to test the Raptors in the scrums to gain penalties, while trying to minimize their offsides infractions. The Arrows win 84% of their scrum put-ins, while the Raptors win 89%. Lineouts are even.
The Raptors have the MLR try scorer in John Ryberg with 13, while Harley Davidson and Dylan Taikato-Simpson have scored 6 and 5, respectively. The Arrows try leaders are Avery Oitomen and Dan Moor with 6, while Kolby Francis has 5.
Toronto Arrows Director of Rugby Chris Silverthorn has a starting XV consisting of ten capped internationals with four more as reserves.
Glendale Raptors Head Coach David Williams has made four changes in his starters with William Munro at lock, Carlo De Nysschen at scrumhalf, Will Magie at flyhalf and Mika Kruse at outside center.
Squads with Player Article Links
Glendale Raptors: 1 Noah Barker 2 Zach Fenoglio 3 Kelepi Fifita 4 William Munro 5 Luke White (C) 6 Brendan Daly 7 Malon Al-Jiboori 8 Murphy Taramai 9 10 Will Magie 11 Harley Davidson 12 Chad London 13 Mika Kruse14 John Ryberg 15 Dylan Taikato-Simpson 16 Chad Gough 17 Max Lum 18 Blake Rogers 19 Kody O’Neil 20 Connor Cook 21 Shaun Davies (VC) 22 Ata Malifa 23 Campbell Johnstone + Head Coach David Williams
Toronto Arrows: 1 Rob Brouwer 2 AJ Quattrin 3 Morgan Mitchell 4 Mike Sheppard 5 Paul Ciulini 6 John Moonlight 7 Peter Milazzo 8 Luke Campbell 9 Andrew Ferguson10 Sam Malcolm 11 Leandro Leivas 12 Guiseppe du Toit 13 Spencer Jones 14 Dan Moor (C) 15 Gastón Mieres 16 Steven Ng 17 Pat Lynott 18 Cole Keith 19 Tom Van Horne 20 Marcello Wainwright 21 Riley DiNardo 22 Patrick Parfrey 23 Kainoa Lloyd + Director of Rugby, Chris Silverthorn
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