Toronto Arrows Announce Return of Brouwer, Signing of Vanier Cup Winner Ouellet

For Immediate Release

TORONTO, ON – The Toronto Arrows are pleased to announce two additions to their front row ahead of the 2021 Major League Rugby season.

The club is excited to confirm that Rob Brouwer will return for the team’s upcoming campaign, and that the veteran prop will be joined by Pacific Pride graduate Marc-Antoine Ouellet.

Rob Brouwer
Prop | Lindsay, Ontario
Arrow #2

Brouwer featured in two matches in the shortened 2020 campaign, and has made 18 appearances over his two seasons with the club. Regarded as one of the most dominant scrummagers in Major League Rugby, the hard-nosed forward has also made 157 tackles (93.5% completion) and racked up 250 carry metres on 69 carries throughout the 2019 and 2020 seasons, along with scoring a pair of tries. His impressive performances throughout the club’s inaugural season landed him a spot on the All-MLR 1^st XV.

The 38-year-old prop has garnered 11 caps for Canada, and holds the mark as the national team’s oldest debutante – a distinction he earned in February 2016 when he stepped on the field against Brazil at the age of 33 years, 72 days.

Brouwer is a graduate of the Ontario Blues senior men’s provincial program and the McMaster Marauders post-secondary program, and played his grassroots rugby with his hometown Lindsay Rugby Football Club.

Marc-Antoine Ouellet
Prop | Quebec, Quebec

Ouellet joins the club following an impressive debut season with the Rugby Canada National Development Academy in 2019, where he played alongside fellow Pacific Pride grads Guiseppe du Toit, Will Kelly, Mitch Richardson, and Tyler Rowland in the BC Rugby Men’s Premier League.

A crossover athlete from gridiron football, the 6’3”, 270-pound defensive lineman enjoyed a successful post-secondary career at his hometown Universite Laval – highlighted by earning a Vanier Cup national championship in 2016 – before turning his attention to rugby.

Ouellet, 25, becomes the first Quebecois to sign for the Arrows.

“Rob is a veteran presence who gives us strength and depth in a critical area for us,” said Arrows Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Mark Winokur. “As a longtime veteran of the Ontario Blues and Arrows, he brings leadership and knowledge back to the team room and great power to the pitch.”

“We’re very happy to have Marc-Antoine sign his first professional contract with us. He had a tremendous football career, but we are glad he has made the swap and we look forward to him anchoring our scrum moving forward. We are also delighted to add another province to the list of those providing Canada’s only MLR team with talent.”

Toronto has now signed 33 players ahead of the club’s 2021 MLR campaign.

About Toronto Arrows Rugby Football Club:

The Toronto Arrows Rugby Football Club is Canada’s first professional rugby union team.

Competing in Major League Rugby, the team is equipped to compete against top-tier North American 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