CanadaQuebec native Matt Heaton played in Major League Rugby between 2020-2024. He represented Rugby ATL (2020-2023) and followed the franchise when a new ownership group relocated the team to Los Angeles to represent Rugby FC LA (2024).
Heaton played rugby through High School in Canada, and played club rugby with Saint-Anne-De-Bellevue Rugby Club, the Dog River Howlers, and the Atlantic Rock. He represented the Canadian U20 side at the World Rugby Trophy competition and the IRB Americas Rugby Championship in 2013, and earned his full test debut for Canada against Japan in June 2016. Heaton earned 31 caps between 2016-2021, and represented Canada at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. At club level, Heaton played in the lower tiers of English rugby between 2015-2019, Captaining Nat 1 side Darlington Mowden Park in their 2018/19 season, before returning to North America.
Heaton signed with Rugby ATL ahead of their inaugural season in 2020, appear in 4 of ATL’s 5 games before the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. He had completed 70 tackles in those 4 games, and was tied for 3rd in MLR with teammate Johan Momsen at the time the season shut down. Across his 4 MLR seasons with the RATLers, Heaton earned 44 caps (all starts) for the team, tied for 4th in team history. This includes the 2021 MLR Championship Final, when ATL fell to the LA Giltinis 31-17 at the famous Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. He scored 6 tries in total but his real value was as a formidable tackler. He completed 635 tackles as a member of ATL and was regularly an MLR Top 10 Tackler, passing 200 tackles in a season once, in 2023 when he finished 5th in MLR tackling.
As with Rugby ATL, Heaton was a member of the Leadership group for Rugby FC LA in their inaugural MLR season under new ownership, and earned his 50th MLR cap in the first half of the 2024 campaign.
Contract Status: Signed through 2024
achievements
- 50 MLR Caps – 2024 – RD 9
- 5th in MLR Tackles: 2023 (215)
- MLR Runner-Up: 2021 (Rugby ATL)
- T-8th in MLR Tackling: 2021 (184)
- T-3rd in MLR Tackling: 2020 (70)