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