Reid Scores First MLR Try as Arrows Fall to Free Jacks

The Arrows were met by stiff opposition in their clash with the New England Free Jacks on Saturday evening, falling 80-5 to the Eastern Conference leaders at York Lions Stadium.

Irish international Noel Reid scored in the defeat, marking the centre’s first try in Arrows colours.

New England opened the scoring in the early stages of the match, with Andrew Quattrin crossing over off the back of a driving maul.

Attempts at a speedy response from Toronto were ground to a halt when the referee issued a yellow card to Peter Nelson, adjudging the Arrows fullback to have committed an infraction in an aerial duel with Taniela Filimone.

The momentum swing was felt acutely; the Free Jacks worked back up the pitch, and after a couple of timely offloads, Mitch Jacobson was the man to touch down in the corner. Soon after, a strong New England scrum deep in Toronto territory yielded a penalty try.

The Free Jacks tacked on two more tries coming out of the hydration break, with John Poland racing in before Quattrin scored his second of the game in a similar fashion to his first.

The Arrows appeared to get on the board after a Ross Braude line break led to Mason Flesch springing Dawson Fatoric into the corner, but the acrobatic tally from the winger was chalked off by the TMO for what was perceived to be an earlier infringement at the breakdown.

A second penalty try was awarded to New England minutes later. In a race to a chipped ball between duelling wingers Paula Balekana and Fatoric, the Arrow arrived first, with the ball popping off his arm and bouncing out the back of the in-goal area. The result, after a review by the TMO, was a double whammy for Toronto: a yellow card for the hosts and seven more points for the visitors.

Late first-half tries from Free Jacks wingers Filimone and Balekana put the Free Jacks ahead 54-0 at the break.

Coming out of the interval, it was New England picking up where they left off, with Le Roux Malan opening the second-half scoring on the heels of an Isaac Olson line break.

The Arrows found their breakthrough shortly thereafter, giving the 2,000+ in attendance a well-worked scoring play worthy of a roar. Coming off an attacking scrum on the Free Jacks’ 22, D’Shawn Bowen zipped through the middle. Sensing opportunity, Shane O’Leary switched the direction of play and sent a rampaging Lolani Faleiva in one-on-one along the right side. The ensuing offload to the support-running Reid was coolly finished in the corner.

New England shut the door for the remainder of the match, keeping the hosts at bay while adding three more tries to their tally. Joe Johnston was sent in by a slicing Jayson Potroz, and coming out of the water break, Malan crossed over for his second before Cam Davidowicz scored the game’s final try.

Fatoric, Shay Kerry, and Nelson made their first starts for the Arrows, and Connor Grindal came on in the second half for his MLR debut.

With his 12 tackles on the day, captain Lucas Rumball became the first Arrow to reach the 600-tackle milestone; the franchise leader in tackles now has 611 over his five seasons with the club.

Twelve Arrows were unavailable for the game due to injury.

 

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Toronto (1-7; 8 points) enters Week 10 of the 2023 season with a home clash against Seattle (6-2; 29 points) on Sunday, April 23. The Arrows hold a 3-2 all-time record against the Seawolves in regular season play, and were victorious over the Washington outfit in the lone match played in Toronto; Sunday’s fixture marks the first time Seattle will travel to Ontario since 2019.

The cross-conference clash at York Lions Stadium will kick off at 4 p.m. ET. Tickets are available for purchase via AXS, with single game seats starting as low as $20.