NEWS

26 MLR Players to Represent the USA, Canada in Saturday’s Pacific Nations Cup Kickoff

When the United States and Canada take the pitch at Infinity Park for each side’s first match of the Pacific Nations Cup on Saturday evening, both sides will do so with rosters littered with some of Major League Rugby’s top talent.

In all, 26 players from nine teams will represent the MLR on Saturday. Canada will bring along 15 players while the USA will field 11 players in what will be the 62nd meeting between the two sides and the first of two meetings before both sides head off to Japan for the World Cup in September.

Of the 15 players that Canada will bring, three – Eric Howard of the NOLA Gold and Rob Brouwer and Mike Sheppard of the Toronto Arrows – are coming off of seasons in which they earned All-MLR honors. Howard scored the fourth-most tries in the MLR (9) while also dishing nine try assists and making 163 tackles on his way to earning Second XV honors in 2019. Both Brouwer and Sheppard proved to be pivotal pieces on an Arrows team that advanced to the semi-finals in their first season in the MLR and they earned First XV honors as a result. Brouwer finished the 2019 season with two tries and two try assists while making 93 percent of his tackles. Sheppard scored five tries, dished four try assists and made a whopping 203 tackles.

The Eagles’ starting lineup features two players, Rugby United New York’s Dylan Fawsitt and NOLA’s Cam Dolan, that made All-MLR teams in 2019. Fawsitt finished the 2019 season tied for first in tries (13) and second in try assists (11). In addition to his spectacular offensive performance, he also made 170 tackles for a RUNY team that was 90 seconds away from advancing to the MLR Championship game in their first season. Dolan scored three tries, dished five try assists while missing just six tackles to finish the 2019 season with a tackle completion percentage of 95 and earn Second XV honors at No. 8.

Canada has not beaten the USA since defeating them 13-11 back in August 2013. The USA has won nine of the last 10 meetings between the two sides, including the last four meetings, with the lone blemish on their record coming in the form of a 28-28 draw in June 2017. Canada leads the all-time series 38-21 with two matches ending in a draw.

The match is scheduled to kick off at 6 PM MT and will be broadcast on NBC Sports Gold. Tickets are available here. A list of the MLR teams represented in the match is included below.

Glendale Raptors

•       Malon Al-Jibooori – USA
•       Shaun Davies – USA

Houston SaberCats

•       Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz – USA
•       Paul Mullen – USA

NOLA Gold

•       Kyle Baillie – CAN
•       Hubert Buydens – CAN
•       Cam Dolan – USA
•       Eric Howard – CAN

Rugby ATL

•       Chance Wenglewski – USA

Rugby United New York

•       Dylan Fawsitt – USA
•       John Quill – USA
•       Paddy Ryan – USA

San Diego Legion

•       Kapeli Pifeleti – USA

Seattle Seawolves

•       Jeff Hassler – CAN
•       Jake Ilnicki – CAN
•       Phil Mack – CAN
•       Djustice Sears-Duru – CAN

Toronto Arrows

•       Rob Brouwer – CAN
•       Luke Campbell – CAN
•       Cole Keith – CAN
•       Jamie Mackenzie – CAN
•       Patrick Parfrey – CAN
•       Andrew Quattrin – CAN
•       Lucas Rumball – CAN
•       Mike Sheppard – CAN

Utah Warriors

•       Gannon Moore – USA

Colton can be reached at colton@usmlr.com