Rugby ATL co-captain Matt Heaton will return for the first year of a two-year contract extension through the 2023 Major League Rugby season. The 28-year-old openside flanker/lock (28 in February) is 6’3″, and 225 lbs.
Matt played 960 minutes in 12 starts for the Ratlers in 2021. During the 2020 MLR season, he played 320 minutes in 4 starts during the pandemic shortened season and led the team in tackles made (74).
Matt is from Godmanchester, Quebec, and attended Chateauguay Valley Regional High School where he played rugby for the Spartans. He also played for Saint-Anne-De-Bellevue Rugby Club, for the Dog River Howlers, and the Atlantic Rock.
In 2013 he played for the Canada Under-20s in the World Rugby Trophy competition and in the IRB Americas Rugby Championship. He has played for Canada A and made his debut for the Senior National team on June 11, 2016, against Japan. The last of his 31 tests (21 starts), was against Chile at Langford, October 2, 2021. Matt also played in three matches, starting twice, at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Matt has played rugby in the United Kingdom from 2015-2019. From 2015-2016 he played with Otley RFC in the National 2 North and then signed with Darlington Mowden Park in the National One in 2016 and captained the side in the 2018-2019 season. During Rugby ATL’s inaugural MLR season in 2020, he was a team leader as captain.
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