The Toronto Arrows hosts the Seattle Seawolves on Saturday, April 17 at 10:30 am ET at Lupo Family Field in Marietta, Georgia. Historically, the teams have split their four matches with the Arrows gaining the win in 2020.
The match will be broadcast on Root Sports, TSN2, and streamed on The Rugby Network.
Both teams have started the season slowly with the pandemic causing Toronto to relocate to the Rugby ATL home field. The Arrows are 1-3 in sixth place with 6 points in the MLR Eastern Conference and need a win to get back in the hunt in the competitive conference.
The Seattle Seawolves started out with two losses and are coming off a win against Utah Warriors. With the LA Giltinis, Austin Gilgronis, and the Utah Warriors off to fast starts, they also need to get a win if they hope to contend in the coming weeks in the Western Conference. They also have 6 points in the standings and are in sixth place.
It is always difficult to travel across the country for matches, but it will challenging for the Seawolves to play an early match, with the players’ body experiencing 7:30 am in Seattle.
Toronto Arrows Director of Rugby Chris Silverthorn has made four changes in the starters with Jack McRogers and Tyler Rowland moving to the front row at hooker and tighthead prop, respectively. MAson Flesch will make his first MLR appearance at lock, and Patrick Parfrey moves to inside center.
Reserve changes include Marcello Wainwright in the back row, Leandro Leivas at wing, and Spenser Jones returning from injury for his first Arrows appearance since 2019.
Seattle Seawolves Kees Lensing has made four changes with Mike Shepherd and jack Ilnicki at hooker and tighthead prop, respectively. Eric Duechle makes his first start of the season at blindside flanker and Ben Cima returns to the starters at fullback, instead of his customary flyhalf position.
In the reserves, Les Soloai returns to the matchday squad at lock, and Obert Nortjé at hooker.
The match will have JP Doyle (England) as the referee with Henrique Platais (Brazil) and Cisco Lopez (USA), the assistants.
Squads With Player Article Links
Toronto Arrows: 1 Cole Keith 2 Jack McRogers 3 Tyler Rowland 4 Mason Flesch 5 Paul Ciulini 6 Tomás de la Vega 7 Lucas Rumball (cc) 8 Manuel Diana 9 Ross Braude10 Tayler Adams 11 Manuel Montero 12 Patrick Parfrey 13 Ben LeSage (cc) 14 Gastón MIeres 15 Joaquin Tuclet 16 Pat Lynott 17 Andrew Quattrin18 Gastón Cortes 19 Adrian Wadden 20 Marcello Wainwright 21 Jason Higgins 22 Leandro Leivas 23 Spencer Jones
Seattle Seawolves: 1 Djustice Sears-Duru 2 Mike Shepherd 3 Jake Ilnicki 4 Rhyno Herbst 5 FP Pelser 6 Eric Duechle 7 Andrew Durutalo 8 Riekert Hattingh (c) 9 Devereaux Ferris 10 Kieran Joyce 11 Sitiveni Tamaivena 12 George Barton 13 Ross Neal (VC) 14 Mat Turner 15 Ben Cima 16 Obert Nortjé 17 Huluholo Moungaloa 18 Tim Metcher 19 Les Soloai 20 Tommy Hunkin-Clark 21 Aaron Matthews22 Setareki Tuilevuka 23 Juan Pablo ‘Juampi’ Aguirre
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