YORKTON - Amid a rather busy sports weekend – the NHL’s always over-hyped all-star game and the Winter Olympics – my sporting eyes are solidly on Seattle where the Toronto Arrows visit the host Seawolves in the opening week of Major League Rugby (MLR).
If you are not yet familiar with MLR it is a professional sports league in its fifth season and represents the highest level of rugby competition in North America. The League evolved from seven teams in 2018, to 13 teams in 2022, including the Arrows.
It was a strange, and largely unsuccessful run for the Arrows in 2021. The team headed to Atlanta and stayed there playing their home games in the Georgia city due to issues around the COVID pandemic.
Life in a hotel with home games far from Toronto had its impact and the Arrows posted a record of 5-11 and sat dead last in the Eastern Conference.
Extenuating circumstances notwithstanding the Arrows made a change in coaching in the offseason.
Peter Smith has been promoted to head coach after three seasons as an assistant coach on the Arrows staff. At 33 years old he will be the youngest Head Coach in MLR, edging new Dallas hire Michael Hodge by two months.
Smith took over the position from Chris Silverthorn, who moved to Director of Player Development. Silverthorn has been Head Coach since the team’s inception.
Smith has been readying for opening weekend, and the game in Seattle set for Sunday.
“The new position’s been great so far,” Smith told Yorkton This Week eight days ahead of the game versus the Seawolves. “The team chemistry has been outstanding.”
Smith said the preseason is about helping the team develop its ultimate personality.
“We’re building our work ethic, building our culture,” he said, adding so far everything is coming together well. “I’m very happy where we’re sitting at the moment.”
The year in Atlanta may now become an asset as the Arrows return to a more natural season.
“It is a far more resilient group,” said Smith, adding he has heard no complaining through camp. “. . . They’ve got a job to do and they just go out there and do it.”
It is a situation, suggested Smith of being battle hardened in 2021.
“Anything that comes up now will be minor compared to last year,” he said.
The game in Seattle will have special meaning for the new TO head as well.
Smith, an Australian, was a fly half with the Seawolves in the first MLR season, a season where Seattle captured the championship.
“I can’t wait (for the first game). It’s against my old team which is really exciting,” said Smith. “Seattle is always a tough challenger.”
The stop in Seattle was his last as a player, following a globe spanning career.
“Smith grew up in Northern Sydney, Australia and played for Northern Suburbs Rugby Club,” related a 2018 Seawolves release on his signing with the club. “In 2011, Smith began his professional career at the young age of 21 when he signed on to play fly half with the Ospreys in the Pro12 league. In 2012, he competed with the Coca-Cola West Red Sparks in Japan’s Top League rugby union competition. Following the 2013 season with the Red Sparks, Smith transferred within the Top League and played with the Kubota Spears for the 2014 and 2015 seasons.”
So what should fans expect from a Smith-led Arrows team this season?
“I really want, when people are watching us play, to see a team willing to fight and die for each other. I want to see their passion and pride on the field when they’re out there performing,” he said. “I want a confident team that believes in themselves, that will do anything for each other.”
The Arrows will stay on the west coast for their second game of the season too, albeit the game will be played on Canadian soil. TO will take on the defending MLR champion at Starlight Stadium in Langford, B.C. Feb. 11.
As for the game Smith said, “it’s really exciting,” adding several Arrows are from B.C.
It’s also a chance to broaden the fandom for the Arrows.
“We want to grow the game around the country,” he said. “We want to be known as Canada’s team.”
The game will be a tough one against the champs and on a short week, but Smith said there are no easy games in the continually improving MLR.
“It is a very rough competition,” he said. “Right now anyone can beat anyone.”
The opening two games will however be a measure of where the Arrows are as a team.
“You want to play the best to see how you measure up,” said Smith.
Fans can follow the Arrows on TSN with the club’s 16 regular season games in 2022, as well as potential MLR Championship Series matches, to TSN and TSN Direct subscribers through the network’s various platforms, including national television feeds, TSN.ca, and the TSN app.
