TORONTO — After starting the Major League Rugby season with six injury-plagued games on the road, the Toronto Arrows continue to take a beating at home.
The Arrows went into Saturday's home opener against the defending champion New York Ironworkers with 13 injured players, three of whom are gone for the season.
And while the game saw several Toronto players return from injury, four more were sidelined after suffering concussions in the previous week's 14-11 loss at the Dallas Jackals.
Despite a second-half fightback after trailing 24-17 at the break, the Arrows never led and fell just short in a 29-27 loss to the Ironworkers (4-3-0, 20 points). And while Toronto (1-6-0, eight points) earned a bonus point for losing by seven points or fewer, it came at a cost.
With Ciaran Breen unavailable through injury and Brenden Black away with the Canadian under-23 side competing at the Tropical 7s tournament in Tampa, Fla., talismanic vice-captain Sam Malcolm shifted to fullback from fly half.
And the 27-year-old New Zealander became the latest casualty when, in the 73rd minute with the Ironworkers holding onto a 29-27 lead, New York fly half Sam Windsor hoisted a high kick into the sky at York Lions Stadium.
Malcolm, who at five foot nine and 180 pounds makes his living in the land of the giants, headed toward the ball with eyes to the sky. So did onrushing Ironworkers wing Andrew Coe, a Canadian international listed at six foot two and 205 pounds.
Both went for the ball but only Coe stuck the landing, putting one hand down to steady his return to the ground. Malcolm was not so lucky as the ball squibbed away from both.
Coe slammed into Malcolm near the head, with the collision leaving the Arrows back horizontal in the air briefly before slamming into the artificial turf like he had been dropped from 50 storeys.
There he stayed, like a statue that had been toppled — his hands in the air as concerned teammate James O’Neill knelt over him.
Trainers and medical staff quickly surrounded the fallen player, with a stretcher nearby while referee Robin Kaluzniak — as some in the crowd yelled "Red, Red" to urge a sending-off — consulted with television match official Andrew Hosie for possible foul play.
Amazingly, Malcolm got back to his feet after some three minutes of treatment. He made a groggy exit supported by Arrows staff on each side. There was no sanction on the play, with a ruling that both players were going after the ball.
"I'm disappointed it wasn't picked up by the TMO (television match official), to be honest," said Toronto coach Peter Smith, whose own playing career was cut short by concussions.
"Because up top (in the coaches' box) when we were looking at it, it looked absolutely brutal … on replay. For some reason, they seemed to think it was fine.
"But he's in good spirits, I just checked in with him. He's smiling, he's happy. But obviously a bit dazed at the moment."
How important is Malcolm to the Arrows? He accounted for all 27 points in the team's lone win this season, which was a 27-26 nail-biter over the expansion Chicago Hounds on March 11 that saw Malcom score a pair of tries, a conversion, four penalty goals and the match-winning drop goal in his club-record points haul.
The vice-captain holds franchise records for points, conversions, penalty goals and goal-kicking accuracy.
Despite the loss, there were positives for the Arrows. Canada sevens international D'Shawn Bowen scored three highlight-reel tries and Canadian 15s international Shane O'Leary quarterbacked the attack from fly half, with both making their Arrows debuts.
And Toronto can celebrate collecting 27 points against the reigning champions. Scoring has been a challenge for the Arrows, who came into the game with a league-low 73 points.
"We played well. We scrambled defensively do well," said Smith. "We ran the ball in attack and we looked good. And D'Shawn Bowen was outstanding for us on the wing. We just couldn't get the win unfortunately. But I thought we played our hearts out and it's starting to come together a little bit."
Veteran Toronto lock Mike Sheppard also saw positives.
"It's disappointing to keep getting these close losses," said Sheppard, who was honoured as the franchise's leader in all-time appearances (53) after the game.
"But we've got almost nine to 10 potential starters that are injured. To lose by two to a team like New York that won the competition last year, it's a good result but it's not a good result if that makes sense."
Toronto plays seven of its nine remaining games at home, starting next Saturday against the Eastern Conference-leading New England Free Jacks (5-2-0).
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 9, 2023
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
