Vikilani, Wadden Earn First 2022 Starts in Dallas Clash

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TORONTO, ON – Toronto Arrows Head Coach Peter Smith has named his starting lineup for Saturday’s home match against the Dallas Jackals.

With the team in the midst of a gruelling stretch of three matches across a 12-day span, Smith has made eight personnel changes to the lineup that started in Week 14 against New York.

Ross Braude has been activated off the injured reserve and will start for the first time since Week 8’s win against New York.

Will Kelly, Conor McCann, James O’Neill, and John Sheridan will also return to the starting fifteen, joining Siaki Vikilani and Adrian Wadden, who have been tabbed for their first starts of the season.

With Mike Sheppard and Lucas Rumball rested and Sam Malcolm unavailable with an upper-body injury, Guiseppe du Toit has been given captaincy duties for the evening affair, while Jack McRogers will deputize.

Kyle Baillie has also recovered from his lower-body injury and will make to look an impact off the bench.

Eleven players are currently listed on the injured reserve and are unavailable for selection.

Squad Notes:

• Vikilani and Wadden will make their first starts of the season
• Quattrin is fourth in the league in carries (127)
• Ciulini is fifth in the league in attacking breakdown arrivals (250)
• Nine squad members are full Canadian internationals: Baillie (34 caps), Braude (8 caps), Ciulini (8 caps), du Toit (14 caps), Keith (24 caps), Kelly (1 cap), Quattrin (13 caps), Rowland (6 caps), Vikilani (7 caps)
• Two additional squad members are full internationals: de la Vega (12 caps; Argentina), Mieres (78 caps; Uruguay)
• Eleven players are on the injured reserve and are unavailable for selection: Bell, Brown, Faust, A. Ferguson, B. Ferguson, Flesch, Jones, Malcolm, Richardson, Robinson-Bartlett, Wainwright

This marks the first time the Arrows (6-6; 30 points) will face the expansion Jackals (0-13; 4 points). Toronto is currently 1-2 against Western Conference sides this season, with losses to Los Angeles in Week 2 and Houston in Week 12 sandwiching a victory over Utah in Week 7.

Saturday’s game will kick off at 7 p.m. ET at York Lions Stadium, with tickets starting at $15.

The cross-conference tilt will feature on TSN2 and stream on TSN.ca and the TSN App for Canadian audiences, FS2 for American audiences, and will be available on The Rugby Network for international audiences.

Toronto Arrows Lineup vs. Dallas Jackals:

1. Lolani Faleiva
2. Jack McRogers
3. Tyler Rowland
4. Adrian Wadden
5. Paul Ciulini
6. Tomas de la Vega
7. James O’Neill
8. Siaki Vikilani
9. Ross Braude
10. Will Kelly
11. John Sheridan
12. Guiseppe du Toit (C)
13. Conor McCann
14. Matt Hood
15. Gaston Mieres
16. Andrew Quattrin
17. Cole Keith
18. Isaac Salmon
19. Kyle Baillie
20. Ronan Foley
21. Sam Reimer
22. Ueta Tufuga
23. Mitch Voralek

About Toronto Arrows Rugby Football Club:

Established in 2018, the Toronto Arrows Rugby Football Club is Canada’s first and only professional rugby union team.

Competing in Major League Rugby, the team is equipped to compete against top-tier North American professional club teams, providing emerging Canadian talent with enhanced and more frequent opportunities to hone their skills at an elite level.

For more information, visit https://torontoarrows.com/

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For more information, please contact:

Brock Smith
Communications Manager
Toronto Arrows
[email protected]

Header Photo Credit: Tek Ang