TORONTO — The New England Free Jacks ran in 12 tries en route to an 80-5 demolition of the injury-plagued Toronto Arrows in Major League Rugby play Saturday.
Toronto was without 12 injured players, including star fly half Sam Malcom, for the contest between the first- and last-place teams in the Eastern Conference.
New England (6-2-0, 30 points) added eight conversions with two more automatic conversions for tries scored under the posts.
It was 54-0 at the half at York Lions Stadium. Noel Reid scored the lone try for Toronto (1-7-0, eight points) in the 50th minute with the Free Jacks leading 59-0.
The Free Jacks starting 15 included five Canadians — Andrew Quattrin, Cole Keith, Conor Keys, Ben LeSage and Spencer Jones — with Foster DeWitt and Reegan O’Gorman among the replacements.
Jones, Keith, LeSage and Quattrin are all former Arrows.
Shane O’Leary started at fly half for Toronto, while fellow Canadian international Peter Nelson made his first Arrows start at fullback. Wing Dawson Fatoric and No. 8 Shay Kerry also made their first starts for Toronto.
Due to the Canadian winter, Toronto started the season with six straight games on the road.
Despite the long injury list, the Arrows matchday 23 featured 10 internationals: eight from Canada and one each from Chile and Ireland.
Toronto hosts the Seattle Seawolves on April 23.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2023.
