Toronto Arrows Announce Return of Arrow #1 Rumball
September 27, 2022 – Major League Rugby (MLR) – Toronto Arrows News Release
TORONTO, ON – The Toronto Arrows are pleased to announce that flanker Lucas Rumball has re-signed with the club for the 2023 Major League Rugby season.
Rumball, 27, is returning to the Arrows for a fifth campaign after featuring in 39 matches (37 starts) for the club since its inaugural season in 2019.
“I’m eager to meet some new faces and build on the learnings from last year,” said Rumball. “I can’t wait to get back to Toronto and start building for the season ahead.”
The 2022 club vice captain notably leads the franchise in tackles (520; 93.7% completion) and breakdown steals (44); Rumball is the only Arrows player to have hit the 500-tackle milestone, and his work at the breakdown is in a class of its own, with only one other player in team history cracking double-digits for poaches (Tomas de la Vega; 15).
The Scarborough, Ont. native has also accumulated 1,527 carry metres on 327 carries, 34 tackle breaks, 19 offloads, and three tries over his four years with the team. Tenacious at the ruck, no player across the league posted more defending breakdown arrivals than Rumball (134) throughout the 2022 MLR season; the six-foot-two, 230-pound forward also led MLR in this category in 2021 (124 arrivals), the same year he earned All-MLR 1st XV honours.
Rumball has amassed 45 caps (41 starts) for Canada since making his international debut against Uruguay in February 2016, including featuring at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. The flanker also represented Canada at two World Rugby Under-20 Trophy tournaments, first as an under-ager in 2014, and again in 2015 with the captaincy role. He was named Rugby Canada’s Young Player of the Year, Male in 2014.
Arrow #1 is a graduate of the Ontario Blues senior men’s provincial program and the Queen’s Gaels post-secondary program, and played his grassroots rugby with Balmy Beach.
While representing the Gaels, Rumball was named Ontario University Athletics’ Most Valuable Player (2015) and Rookie of the Year (2013).
“Lucas is an original Ontario Blue, a local hero, and probably the toughest player over the ball in MLR,” said Mark Winokur, Toronto Arrows Chief Operating Officer and General Manager. “He led out our team in our first ever MLR match back in 2019, and has been a core member and key leader of this organization from day one. We’re delighted to have him back and focused on winning games in his hometown.”
The club will be making additional signing announcements in the coming weeks as 2023 season preparations continue to build.
The window to place a deposit to secure 2023 season memberships for the lowest possible price is now open. Earlybird pricing packages for the club’s home matches at York Lions Stadium start at just $70 for a limited time only.
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