Toronto Arrows Lucas Rumball 2023 Profile

The Toronto Arrows re-signed Lucas Rumball for the 2023 Major League Rugby season. The 27-year-old flanker is 6’2″ and 230 lbs.

Lucas is returning to the Arrows for a fifth season and has played in 39 matches (37 starts) for the club since its inaugural season in 2019.

According to the Arrows, “The 2022 club vice-captain notably leads the franchise in tackles (520; 93.7% completion) and breakdown steals (44); Rumball is the only Arrows player to have hit the 500-tackle milestone, and his work at the breakdown is in a class of its own, with only one other player in team history cracking double-digits for poaches (Tomas de la Vega; 15).

“He has also accumulated 1,527 carry metres on 327 carries, 34 tackle breaks, 19 offloads, and three tries over his four years with the team.”

Lucas played 993 minutes in 13 starts with the Arrows in 2021. The 2021 club co-captains season performances had him gaining a spot on the All-MLR 1st XV. “Despite missing three matches due to international duty, Rumball still finished first across the league in breakdown steals (22; next closest had 13), first in defensive ruck arrivals (124), seventh in tackles (156), eighth in attacking ruck arrivals (242), and 16th in carries (124).”

During the 2020 MLR season, he played in all five games, starting four. The powerful loose forward has developed a reputation as one of the top tacklers in North America’s top flight, making 163 tackles with a completion rate of 94.8%. A member of the club’s senior leadership group since joining the league, Rumball has also made 89 carries, ran for 359 carry metres, completed nine offloads, and scored two tries over the 2019 and 2020 seasons.”

Following the November Repechage and tests, he returned to Toronto and played 421 minutes in 6 starts, and scored one try for the Arrows in 2019.

Lucas is from Scarborough, Ontario. He attended Queens University and was the captain of the Gaels Rugby team. He was selected for the Canada Under-18s and the Under-20s. For the latter, he captained the team in the World Rugby Trophy competition in 2015.

Lucas played club rugby with Balmy Beach RFC until he became part of Canada’s Centralized Player’s Squad. He moved to British Columbia and joined the James Bay Athletic Association.

Lucas has played Provincial rugby for the Ontario Blues and has participated in numerous Canadian Rugby Championships. He played for the Blues against the USA Collegiate All-Americans in 2014 and against the ARP All-Stars in 2015.

Lucas made his debut for Canada’s Senior Men’s National Team in 2016 against Uruguay at Langford on February 6, 2016, at the Americas Rugby Championship. He played in the 2019 Pacific Nations Cup prior to playing in the 2019 Rugby World Cup. In Japan, he started the three matches played with his final one against South Africa at Kobe on October 8, 2019. The final match against Namibia was canceled because of Typhoon Hagibis.

2018 was a busy year for the national team back row. He played in the Americas Rugby Championship for Canada, for Canada Selects against the Ontario Arrows in May, for Canada in the June tests, for Canada Selects again against Castres and Clermont in August, and for Canada A in the Americas Pacific Challenge. Now he is with the National team again and played for Canada against Oxford University and against Coventry in England prior to leaving for France for World Rugby Repechage matches against Kenya, Germany, and Hong Kong. As the winner of the Repechage, Canada secured the final spot at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.

Rumball has amassed 45 caps (41 starts) for Canada since making his international debut against Uruguay in February 2016, including featuring at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. His last test was on 10 July 2022 against Spain in Ottawa. The forward also represented the Canada under-20s in 2014 (as an under-ager) and 2015.