FILE -- Fly half Shane O’Leary is shown in action for the Toronto Arrows in their 29-27 loss to the defending Major League Rugby champion New York Ironworkers on April 8, 2023, at York Lions Stadium. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Toronto Arrows-Kyle Gilmor **MANDATORY CREDIT**
TORONTO – The injury-ravaged Toronto Arrows’ winless streak in Major League Rugby now stands at 11 after a 48-26 loss to the Houston SaberCats.
The Arrows (1-11-2, 15 points) have gone 0-9-2 since posting their lone win of the season, 27-26 over the expansion Chicago Hounds on March 11 in Bridgeview, Ill.
Houston (9-5-0, 48 points) ran in seven tries Saturday with Louritz van der Schyff scoring two of them and Keni Nasoqeqe, Wynand Grassmann, Joseph Taufete’e, Drew Wild and Christian Dyer adding singles. Robert Povey kicked 11 points with four conversions and a penalty. Houston also got an automatic conversion for scoring under the posts.
Nasoqeqe was sent to the sin-bin in the dying minutes.
Owain Ruttan scored two tries for Toronto (1-11-2, 15 points), which trailed 31-5 at the break. Ramon Ayarza and Jack McRogers also scored tries with Peter Nelson and Shane O’Leary each kicked a conversion with Toronto also getting an automatic conversion.
Toronto was missing the injured Nic Benn, Cole Davis, Mitch Eadie, Lolani Faleiva, Nik Hildebrand, Sam Malcolm, Avery Oitomen, Noel Reid, Mitch Richardson, Isaac Salmon, Gene Syminton, Corey Thomas, Micaiah Torrance-Read, Adrian Wadden and Tyler Wong.
The Arrows have two games remaining, hosting the San Diego Legion and NOLA Gold on June 11 and 17, respectively.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2023
