Cole Keith

Canadian International prop Cole Keith has been playing in Major League Rugby since 2019. He was a member of the Toronto Arrows between 2019-2022, and represented the New England Free Jacks from 2023-2025.

New Brunswick native Cole Keith is a Canadian international prop, representing his country at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. He played with the Toronto Arrows during their first MLR campaign that same year, and earned 46 appearances for the Arrows between 2019-2022, scoring all 3 of his MLR tries to date in 2022. On 25th September 2022, it was announced that Keith had been traded from the Toronto Arrows to the New England Free Jacks in exchange for 2023 Cap Considerations. Shortly after, on October 6th, 2022, the New England Free Jacks announced that they had signed Keith ahead of the 2023 MLR season.

Keith was the 37th player in MLR history to reach 50 caps in the competition, earning his 50th during the Free Jacks’ 2023 Shield winning season where he earned 11 starts in 15 games. Keith followed this up with another 6 starts in 13 appearances to help the Free Jacks secure back-to-back Shields in 2024, where he earned his 500th career MLR tackle. On November 21st, 2024, the Free Jacks announced the return of Cole Keith for the 2025 season alongside Paula Balekana, Conor Keys, and Ethan Fryer. Keith would earn 5 additional appearances for the Free Jacks in 2025, starting once and completing 11 tackles in limited game time to help the Free Jacks to secure their (and his) third straight MLR Shield. This took his MLR career totals to 47 starts in 79 appearances between the Toronto Arrows and New England Free Jacks, scoring 3 tries (all for Toronto in 2022) and completing 517 tackles with over 1,100m gained as a front row.

Following the 2025 season and MLR adjusting their domestic player classification to no longer include Canadians, the New England Free Jacks were forced to cut many of their Canadian players and rebuild their squad. Keith was one of these players and the team thanked him and wished him well, with staff trying to find a position for Keith and other departing Canadians on other teams both in MLR and abroad. Eventually on 26th January 2026, JP Sports Collective announced that Cole Keith had signed with the Doncaster Knights in the English Championship.

Achievements:

Mike Sheppard

Canadian forward Mike Sheppard played in Major League Rugby between 2019-2023. He represented the Toronto Arrows for his entire MLR career and is a capped Canadian international, earning his debut in November 2018 against Kenya in which he scored a try.

Sheppard had played with the Ontario Arrows, the precursor to the Toronto Arrows, since 2013 and Captained the Toronto Arrows in their exhibition season in 2018 ahead of their entry into MLR in 2019. In his (and Toronto‘s) debut MLR season, he earned 15 caps and 14 starts, scoring 5 tries as the Arrows qualified for the playoffs in their first season in MLR. He earned a selection to the All-MLR 1st XV for the 2019 season for his outstanding performance.

With the exception of the shortened 2020 season, between 2019-2023 Sheppard was a regular in the Arrows lineup and earned MLR caps in the teens every season, Captaining the team through the 2022 season. 2023 was the only season where he did not score a try, leaving him with 9 tries total over his 58 caps (46 starts), all with Toronto. Sheppard was the 36th player in MLR history to reach 50 caps in the competition, and the 2nd Arrows player after Paul Ciulini.

On August 23rd 2023, Mike Sheppard announced his retirement from playing professionally after spending 5 seasons with the Canadian club. He earned a total of 12 MLR Team of the Week selections, with 9 of these coming in the 2019 season alone.

Achievements:

  • MLR Team of the Week: 2022 – Week 8
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2022 – Week 4
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2021 – Week 16
  • 2019 All-MLR First XV Selection
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Semi-Finals
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Week 18
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Week 16
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Week 15
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Week 14
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Week 13
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Week 11
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Week 10
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Week 6

Andrew Quattrin

Canadian Internationally capped hooker Andrew Quattrin has played in Major League Rugby since 2019. From 2019-2022 he represented the Toronto Arrows and, following a very brief spell with the Utah Warriors as a paper transaction, the New England Free Jacks from 2023-2025.

Quattrin (or simply ‘Q’) earned 48 MLR caps for the Arrows between 2019-2022 including 42 starts, including the Arrows only playoff game vs. the Seattle Seawolves in 2019. He has scored 16 MLR tries, 4 for the Arrows and 3 of them coming in 2022, where he was named as the inaugural recipient of the S. Marcus Calloway Community Impact Award. Also during 2022, Quattrin gained 627m on 152 ball carries, beating 16 defenders. On defence, he made 168 tackles for a success rate of 92.82% On the 29th July, 2022, the MLR Trade Wire announced that Quattrin had been traded from the Toronto Arrows to the Utah Warriors, in exchange for an International Player Spot for the 2023 season. Less than a week later on August 4th, 2022, it was announced that Quattrin had been traded again, this time to the New England Free Jacks in exchange for Salary Cap considerations for 2023. This could be seen as the first 3-way trade in MLR history.

In his debut season with New England, Quattrin scored 5 tries in 15 games (10 starts) as the Free Jacks finished atop the Eastern Conference and advanced to the MLR Championship final where they defeated the very impressive San Diego Legion 24-25 in Chicago thanks to a late score by Le Roux Malan, to lift the Shield for the first time in club history. Quattrin returned to New England for the 2024 season, scoring a further 8 tries (T-9th in MLR) in 17 games (16 starts) as the Free Jacks finished the regular season at the top of the Eastern Conference once again, and defeated Old Glory DC and the Chicago Hounds en route to their 2nd final in as many years, where they defeated the Seattle Seawolves 11-20 to claim back-to-back MLR Shields. Quattrin started all 3 Free Jacks playoff games that year. For his efforts, he was named to the All-MLR Second XV.

On October 16th, 2024, the New England Free Jacks announced the return of Andrew Quattrin for their 2025 MLR season. Quattrin passed 20 career MLR tries with 5 in his 16 appearances in 2025, starting 15 times and recording his 5th season in a row with 100+ tackles made. He was integral in helping the Free Jacks turn their early season shakes around and finishing atop the Eastern Conference for the 4th season in a row. Quattrin started all 3 of New England’s playoff games as they claimed the Eastern Conference Title, before defeating the Houston SaberCats in the 2025 Championsihip in Rhode Island to claim their, and Quattrin’s, 3rd MLR Shield in a row. He was an All-MLR Honorable Mention for his performance in 2025. Following his 3rd MLR Shield win in a row with the Free Jacks, Quattrin signed with Valence Romans in the French Pro D2 as a Medical Joker.

Achievements

Morgan Mitchell

New Zealand prop Morgan Mitchell played in Major League Rugby during the 2019 season, and again in 2023. He represented the Toronto Arrows in their inaugural season in 2019, and the Houston SaberCats (2023).

Mitchell was born with a hearing impairment that evolved to full deafness in 2016. He has a cochlear implant allowing him to hear and continue to play professionally. He is the first deaf player to play in the Mitre 10 (now the Bunnings NPC), and MLR. He has represented the Southland Stags in NZ’s Mitre 10/NPC since 2014 and on 22nd June 2023, the Stags announced that ‘Morgy’ will return for their 2023 NPC season following his year with the SaberCats.

Mitchell scored all 3 of his tries with the Toronto Arrows, starting 13 of his 16 appearanes and completing 139 tackles while gaining over 500m as a prop. Following Toronto’s inaugural season in which they qualified for the postseason, Mitchell headed to Japan after signing with the Kamayashi Seawaves. He played in Japan from 2020-21 before heading back to New Zealand and playing with Southland in the NPC. Morgan Mitchell returned to MLR for the 2023 season, signing with the Houston SaberCats, starting all 14 of his appearances for the ‘Cats and completing another 99 tackles and taking his MLR appearance count to 30, with 27 starts.

After his 2nd stint in MLR with the SaberCats, Mitchell returned to New Zealand once again, and continues to represent the Southland Stags in the NPC as of 2025.

 

Spencer Jones

Canadian-born, New Zealand raised centre Spencer Jones played in Major League Rugby between 2019-2025. He appeared in every MLR season between 2019-2025 with the exception of 2020, for which he was injured and had not recovered by the time the season was cancelled after only 5 rounds. He represented the Toronto Arrows (2019-2022), the New England Free Jacks (2023), and the Utah Warriors (2024-2025).

Jones is a capped Canadian international, earning his debut against the USA in September 2021 and most recently in both of Canada’s games against Tonga in August 2023.

Jones spent 4 seasons with the Toronto Arrows, earning 32 caps (27 starts) and scoring 3 tries and 26pts (4/8 – 50.00%). Following the 2022 season, Spencer Jones signed with the New England Free Jacks for the 2023 season, joining a number of Arrows players moving to Quincy such as Cole Keith and Andrew Quattrin. Jones earned an addition 13 caps (6 starts) for the Free Jacks, adding 1 try as they finished as the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference by a wide margin, and emerging as 24-25 victors over the San Diego Legion to claim their first MLR Shield.

Following the 2023 season, the New England Free Jacks traded Spencer Jones to the Utah Warriors on 21st October 2023, in exchange for Utah’s 1st Rd Draft pick in 2024 (Kaipono Kayoshi), and Salary Cap Considerations (unknown) in 2024. Jones spent the vast majority of the 2024 MLR season injured, and managed only 2 appearances (both starts) for the Warriors during a forgettable season. On 26th December 2024, the Utah Warriors announced the return of Spencer Jones for a 2nd season with the Warriors in 2025, the 7th MLR season of his career.

Achievements:
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2025 – Rd 2
  • MLR Champion: 2023 (New England Free Jacks)
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Rd 3