FRIDAY,SEPTEMBER13,2019 | THEGLOBEANDMAIL O B15
C
oach DeVone Claybrooks
says his BC Lions are ready
to handle a familiar face
when the Ottawa Redblacks visit
on Friday.
Lining up on the other side of
the field will be quarterback Jo-
nathan Jennings, who spent four
years in British Columbia before
signing with Ottawa as a free-
agent in February.
The 27-year-old Columbus,
Ohio, native split starting duties
with veteran Lions pivot Travis
Lulay last season.
In Ottawa, Jennings began the
year behind veteran Dominique
Davis.
But Davis struggled and lost
the No. 1 spot leaving the starting
role to Jennings, who has tallied
736 passing yards and three
touchdowns in five games for
the Redblacks.
“He’s a mobile quarterback
that has a pretty ball. I mean, it’s
a deep ball. He can find the re-
ceivers, they’re working fairly
well together,” Claybrooks said
after the Lions practised on
Wednesday.
“We know what he does and
what he likes to do, and we’re
just going to try to make sure we
put some pressure on him to get
him off the spot.
“But we’ve also got to be
mindful that he can still run the
ball as well.”
Defensive back T.J. Lee often
lined up against Jennings in
practices when the pair were
both playing for the black and
orange.
“We know who Jennings is. We
know what he doesn’t like to see,
the looks he don’t like in the
back end, coverage wise,” he
said.
Still, the Lions know they
have to be solid on both ends of
the field if they want to capture
their first home victory of the
season this week, Lee added.
“Ultimately, if we don’t get
enough push up front and we
don’t make plays down the
stretch when it really matters ...
then it doesn’t matter,” he said.
“We’ll be back in the same boat.”
Jennings told reporters this
week that he’s looking forward
to being back in Vancouver, but
he knows the squad has under-
gone a dramatic overhaul since
he left last winter.
“I look at the roster and there
are a lot of guys I don’t know, a
lot of coaches that are new to
that system as well,” he said.
“But there’s a lot of familiar
faces as well, a lot of guys that I
know and played with for a long
time. It’ll be exciting. I went
against those guys in practice a
lot and it’ll be exciting to strap it
up on the field with them.”
Both the Lions and Redblacks
are struggling through difficult
seasons.
B.C. is nursing a seven-game
losing skid and hasn’t won since
July 6.
Ottawa, meanwhile, has drop-
ped four games in a row,
including a 46-17 blow out to the
Toronto Argonauts last weekend.
Neither team is going into Fri-
day’s matchup feeling as if they
have the advantage.
“We can’t take anybody light-
ly,” Jennings said.
“We’re at the bottom of the
barrel ourselves and we need to
win. So we just need to focus on
our task at hand. We’ve got to
make those plays when we have
the opportunities and make sure
that we don’t beat ourselves, first
and foremost.”
An opponent’s record
shouldn’t have any impact on
how the Lions prepare, said
quarterback Mike Reilly, who
signed a $2.9-million, four-year
deal with B.C. in February.
“[Ottawa] has three times as
many wins as we do, so that has
nothing to do with our issues,”
he said. “We’re in no position to
feel comfortable about any op-
ponent that we face.”
Reilly – who has 2,667 passing
yards, 10 touchdowns and 11
interceptions so far this season –
wants to see his squad focus on
its own play and work to fix the
mistakes they’ve made in recent
games.
“You can’t control what the
other teams do,” he said.
“You’ve got to be able to react
to it and play against it, but
ultimately it’s about controlling
what your own team does and
that’s certainly where we are.”THE CANADIAN PRESSJenningsa
familiarface
forLionsas
theytakeon
Redblacks
GEMMAKARSTENS-SMITH
SURREY,B.C.The Leigh Centurions have dismissed
Wolfpack coach Brian McDermott’s accu-
sations of foul play in Toronto’s 46-12
rugby-league win last Saturday.
Two players from each side were sent
to the sin-bin during the ill-tempered
match, the regular-season finale for both
clubs. The Lamport Stadium contest fea-
tured several melees and a string of ques-
tionable tackles.
McDermott, a former Great Britain in-
ternational and British Royal Marine, saw
plenty more he didn’t like.
“I’m having blokes with nearly broken
jaws and blokes being taken off the ball,
and people getting hit late and people
grabbing at other men’s testicles, and
people gouging throughout the whole
game,” McDermott said.
“I don’t like bullies and I don’t like hyp-
ocrites,” he added. “And I don’t have
much good to say about how Leigh played
today.”
Centurions coach John Duffy called the
accusations ridiculous.
“He [McDermott] seems like he has
spat out his dummy because we were
aggressive with them,” Duffy told the
Leigh Journal.
“The words he has chosen are not true.
They showed their class and what they
are about and won the game. So I don’t
see why he has to come out with rubbish
like that.
“To use ‘bully’ is a strong word and
they need to look closer to home. I don’t
know why he used that sort of term to-
ward this club. Only a couple of teams
have had a dig over there, every other has
sat back. We just went over there to have a
dig. It baffles me sometimes when I hear
stuff like that.”
McDermott has complained for weeks
that opposing teams are trying to bait his
players to get them off the field.
Toronto and Leigh have history.
Paul Rowley, Toronto’s first coach, used
to play and coach at Leigh, and recruited
heavily from the Centurions. Most of
those players have since moved on.
Ryan Brierley and Jake Emmitt, the two
Leigh players yellow-carded on the week-
end, both played at Toronto.
Toronto (26-1-0) and Leigh (18-9-0)
have both made the five-team promotion
playoffs, looking to win their way into the
top-tier Super League.
The Wolfpack have a bye to the semi-
finals after finishing atop the Betfred
Championship regular-season standings.
Toulouse Olympique (20-7-0) plays
host to the York City Knights (19-7-1) on
Saturday, while Leigh entertains Feather-
stoneRovers(17-10-0) on Sunday.
The Toulouse-York winner will visit To-
ronto on Sept. 22 in one semi-final, while
the loser plays the Leigh-Featherstone
winner in the other.
A Toronto semi-final win will see the
Wolfpack play host to the Oct. 5 Grand
Final with a place in the Super League up
for grabs. If Toronto loses the semi-final, itwill have one more chance to make the
promotion final.
Toronto also topped the Betfred Cham-
pionship standings last season, but fell at
the last promotion hurdle, losing 4-2 to
London Broncos in the Million Pound
Game. The Wolfpack won promotion out
of the third-tier League 1 in their inaugu-
ral 2017 season.THE CANADIAN PRESSCenturions dismissWolfpack
allegationsofdirtyplay
Leighcoachcallsstatements
McDermottmadeafterraucous
matchatLamport‘rubbish’
NEILDAVIDSONTORONTO
R
obin Fraser has done nothing but
win since leaving Toronto FC to
coach Colorado.
The former TFC assistant coach
returns Sunday, looking for his fourth
straight victory in charge of the Rapids.
After some five seasons with Toronto,
Fraser said it will be “absolutely surreal” to
be sitting on the visitors’ bench at BMO
Field.
To his right will be “a group of some of
my closest friends on the other bench.
Guys that we’ve been through so much to-
gether with. And a team that I’ve been
through so much with,” Fraser said in an
interview.
Colorado, which started the season win-
less in 11 games (0-9-2), has beaten the
New York Red Bulls, Seattle Sounders and
Los Angeles Galaxy since Fraser took over
Aug. 25.
Fraser gives his new players the credit,
citing their talent and character.
“It’s been three weeks, but every week I
think, ‘Well, that was a good one. But what
happens next week?’ ” he said after
Wednesday’s 2-1 win over the visiting Gal-
axy. “And what keeps happening is they
keep playing like a team. And as a result
they’re getting results. So it’s been really a
fun start for me as a coach. I feel really
happy to be a part of this group.”
Wednesday’s victory came despite a ma-
keshift Colorado starting 11 owing to inju-
ries, international absences and suspen-
sion.
“It’s been a whirlwind. But it’s been a
really good whirlwind,” Fraser said of his
start with Colorado.
Interim coach Conor Casey helped start
the team’s turnaround after Anthony
Hudson was fired on May 1, with the 0-7-2
Rapids mired in a six-game losing streak.
Hudson’s swan song was a 1-0 loss in At-
lanta, after which he noted the “massive
gap in class” between the two teams. The
Rapids then went 7-7-4 under Casey, a for-
mer Toronto and Colorado player. He led
the team on a seven-game unbeaten run
(5-0-2) that included wins over both L.A.
teams.
In his first locker-room talk in Colora-
do, captured in a club video, Fraser praised
his players for turning things around un-
der Casey.
“When people ask me why I took this
job, why Colorado, why now, as I look at
the group of players, the most important
thing to me is that when I watch you guys
play, you play like you give a [damn].” he
told them.
“You play like you care, you play like
you care about each other. You play like it
matters to you.”
There isn’t much that the 52-year-old
Fraser hasn’t seen in MLS. He’s a five-time
MLS all-star, five-time MLS Best XI mem-
ber and two-time defender of the year.
Colorado general manager, Padraig
Smith, called Fraser “one of the most dec-
orated individuals in MLS soccer history”
at his introductory news conference.
Fraser’s Colorado ties run deep.
He played for the Colorado Foxes in the
now-defunct American Professional Soc-
cer League from 1990 to ’95, and the MLS
Rapids from 2001 to ’03.
His two teenage daughters live in the
Denver area and he still owns a home in
the city’s suburbs.
Combine that with his desire to be a
head coach again, “It was kind of a no-
brainer for me.”
Fraser was literally head coach Greg
Vanney’s right-hand man in Toronto,sitting to his right on the sidelines at
games.
They were part of a tight-knit coaching
staff that goes back decades.
Vanney, Fraser and fellow Toronto as-
sistant Dan Calichman were captains at
the Galaxy, with Fraser following Cali-
chman as skipper and Vanney wearing the
armband after Fraser, when Cobi Jones
was absent. Fraser and Vanney played in
the same Galaxy backline at the 1996 and
1999 MLS Cups.
Fraser was head coach at the now-de-
funct Chivas USA (2011-2012), with Vanney
on his coaching staff. Prior to joining To-
ronto in 2015, Fraser also served as an as-
sistant coach with Real Salt Lake (2007-
2010) and the New York Red Bulls (2013-
2014).
“This has been a close friendship for a
long time, 23 years at least,” said Fraser,
Vanney calls Fraser “a great friend and a
great influence, and a guy I’ve always talk-
ed the game to. Which I still will, except for
Sept. 15th.”
Colorado (10-14-6) comes north of the
border just six points behind Toronto (11-
10-9).THE CANADIAN PRESSFraserandtheRapidsrideawavetoToronto
NEILDAVIDSONTORONTO
CoachingChivasUSA,RobinFraserwatchesagameagainsthiscurrentteam,theRapids,
in2011.The52-year-oldhasliftedColoradooutofaslumpandisseekingitsfourthstraight
victoryagainstTorontoFC,wherehespentsomefiveseasons.MARC PISCOTTY/GETTY IMAGESTORONTOSome two weeks before Cana-
da’s opening match at the Rugby World
Cup, coach Kingsley Jones is already
having to shuffle the deck.
Flanker Justin Blanchet was replaced on
the 31-man roster by Josh Larsen after
suffering a concussion in Canada’s final
warmup game against the United States.
last Saturday. Lock/back-rower Kyle Baillie
got on the plane to Japan, but will likely
have to sit out Canada’s first two games
after injuring his knee in the 20-15 loss to
the Americans in Vancouver.
While Jones has assembled a forward
pack with players able to function in
different positions, the injuries mean
fewer options and more decisions – at
least until Baillie is fit to return.
Ahead of the tournament, Evan Olm-
stead and Baillie appeared to be Canada’s
first-choice second row. Baillie was also an
option at blind-side flanker, but Blanchet
seemed to have taken over that role,
lining up at No. 6 alongside No. 8/captainTyler Ardron and open-side flanker Lucas
Rumball.
Olmstead will likely serve as Canada’s
main ball-carrying lock, – a big unit who
looks to batter tacklers and break the
gain-line – with Conor Keys and Mike
Sheppard other options. Jones sees
Larsen as helping take over Baillie’s line-
out leadership role.
Ardron has also played in the second
row in the past.
Sheppard, Olmstead, Luke Campbell and
Matt Heaton can also play at blind-side
flanker.
Canada, ranked 22nd in the world,
opens Pool B play on Sept. 26 against No.
14 Italy in Fukuoka City. The Canadian
men then play No. 2 New Zealand on Oct.
2 in Oita, No. 4 South Africa on Oct. 8 in
Kobe City and No. 23 Namibia on Oct. 13
in Kamaishi City.
The 20-team tournament opens Sept. 20
when No. 10 Japan plays No. 20 Russia.
THE CANADIAN PRESSCANADA’SCOACHRECONSIDERSROSTERBEFORERUGBYWORLDCUPWolfpackcaptainJoshMcCronescoresatryinthe46-12winovertheLeighCenturionsin
TorontoonSaturday.Afterthematch,whichfeaturedmultiplemeleesandtwoplayersfrom
eachsidesenttothesin-bin,WolfpackcoachBrianMcDermottsaidhedidn’thave‘much
goodtosayabouthowLeighplayedtoday.‘MATHEW TSANG/THE CANADIAN PRESSREPORTONBUSINESS |