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TGAM.CA/SUBSCRIBEThree goals in the preseason have helped Nigerian rookie for-
ward Ifunanyachi Achara earn a first-team contract with To-
ronto FC. Achara, 22, was taken in the first round (25th over
all) in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft out of Georgetown University.
While he missed the Orlando part of Toronto’s training
camp owing to illness, he wasted little time turning heads in
California, where the team has spent the bulk of preseason,
scoring goals against UC Irvine, Los Angeles FC and the Los
Angeles Galaxy.
“Achara has had a terrific preseason,” General manager Ali
Curtis said in a statement Friday. “He works hard, is dynamic
offensively and has a great way about him where he fits very
well within the group.
Curtis believes Achara could have been a top-five pick had
it not been for injuries that limited his play at Georgetown.
The 5-foot-10, 161-pounder becomes the 29th player on To-
ronto’s first-team roster. MLS clubs are allowed a maximum of
30.
Achara wore No. 20 at college, but that number belongs to
fellow forward Ayo Akinola at TFC. The rookie has chosen a
famous Canadian number in 99.
Former forward Jeff Cunningham (No. 93) and current full-
back Auro (96) are the only TFC players to have worn a num-
ber in the 90s.
Born in Enugu, Nigeria, a young Achara drew the attention
of the Nigerian under-17 team as a right back. He failed to
make the cut for the U-17 World Cup, but thanks to the MTN
Football Scholar program – which connects coaches to young
African talent – he drew the attention of Berkshire School in
Sheffield, Mass. Toronto FC winger Jacob Shaffelburg and Jack
Harrison, a former New York City FC midfielder now on loan
at Leeds United from Manchester City, also went there.
Achara headed to the United States at the age of 16, scoring
39 goals and adding 22 assists at Berkshire.
He goes by his last name, given his first name is a mouthful.
For those wondering, it is pronounced “ee-fuh-nawn-YATCH’-
ee”.
Toronto wraps up preseason play Saturday against the Col-
orado Rapids in Carson, Calif., where new designated player
Pablo Piatti could make his Toronto debut. TFC opens the reg-
ular season Feb. 29 at San Jose.
THECANADIANPRESS
TorontoFCsignsAchara
afterimpressivepreseason
NEILDAVIDSONTORONTO
The Warrington Wolves needed two late penalties and a try
Friday to stave off the Toronto Wolfpack for a hard-earned 32-
22 win in Super League play.
Toronto (0-4-0) deserved a better fate after rallying from a
16-0 deficit after 30 minutes on a cold day at Halliwell Jones
Stadium. But after clawing its way back to 22-22, the transat-
lantic rugby league team conceded two penalties that Stefan
Ratchford put through in the 64th and 70th minutes for a 26-
22 lead.
Ben Murdoch-Masila’s converted try in the 79th minute
padded the lead to 32-22.
Toronto had lost its first three games in the English top tier
despite playing some attractive free-flowing rugby. The im-
provements continued Friday before an announced crowd of
11,182, albeit after a slow start.
The Wolfpack trailed 22-6 late in the first half before Andy
Ackers crossed the line one minute before the break to reduce
the deficit to 22-12. Second-half tries by Matty Russell and Ga-
reth O’Brien pulled Toronto even at 22-22 as the Wolves wob-
bled.
Jon Wilkin also scored a try for
Toronto. Blake Wallace kicked
three conversions.
Wilkin was a surprise inclusion
in the side, given Toronto had said
Thursday he would be out for a
month owing to minor knee sur-
gery. The veteran forward missed
last week’s game in Wigan after
pulling up short in the warmup.
Josh Charnley, Gareth Widdop,
Tom Lineham and Matty Ashton
scored tries for Warrington (2-
2-0). Ratchford added four conversions in reaching the 1,000-
point mark in Super League.
Lineham’s try was the 150th of his career.
Friday’s game was the first for the Wolfpack without direc-
tor of rugby Brian Noble, who unexpectedly stepped down
Thursday. Warrington built an early lead with tries in the sev-
enth, 10th and 23rd minutes. The Wolves led 16-0 before Wil-
kin’s 33rd-minute converted try cut the deficit to 16-6. The
teams exchanged converted tries to give Warrington a 10-
point lead at the half.
The early schedule has not been kind to Toronto with
games against four of the top five teams in last year’s stand-
ings – No. 2 Wigan, No. 3 Salford, No. 4 Warrington and No. 5
Castleford. The Wolfpack face St. Helens, which topped the ta-
ble in 2019, next on Feb. 29.
Toronto was without the injured Gadwin Springer (head),
Darcy Lussick (hernia), Joe Mellor (hand) and James Cun-
ningham (hamstring). New Zealand international Chase
Stanley remains out owing to visa issues.
Marquee signing Sonny Bill Williams was back in action
from New Zealand after missing last week’s loss at Wigan to be
at the birth of his fourth child. Greg Worthington, recalled
from loan at Featherstone, and French international Tony Gi-
got, newly arrived on a four-week trial, started on the bench.
THECANADIANPRESS
SonnyBillWilliamsoftheTorontoWolfpackistackledbythe
WarringtonWolves’GarethWiddop,left,andBenCurrieat
theirBetfredSuperLeaguematchinWarrington,England.
LEWISSTOREY/GETTYIMAGES
WarringtonhandsWolfpack
itsfourthstraightloss
WARRINGTON,ENGLAND
Toronto(0-4-0)
deservedabetter
fateafterrallying
froma16-0deficit
after30minutes
onacoldday
atHalliwell
JonesStadium.
W
ith 28 Canadians on the
Toronto Arrows’ roster
and six on the Seattle
Seawolves, it’s no wonder that
Canada coach Kingsley Jones will
be in the stands Saturday in sub-
urban Seattle to watch the Major
League Rugby rivals face off.
Home to close to 60 Cana-
dians, the third-year North
American pro league has be-
come Jones’s primary focus.
“I can’t explain how much a
lifeline it is,” Jones said of MLR.
Canadian co-captains or cap-
tains include Josh Larsen (New
England Free Jacks), Matt Heaton
(Atlanta’s Rugby ATL) and Kyle
Baillie (New Orleans’ NOLA
Gold).
Wing Dan Moor captains the
Arrows, along with fellow
Canadian Lucas Rumball vice-
captain.
Jones was in Las Vegas last
weekend, sharing digs with U.S.
coach Gary Gold as they watched
the Arrows and three other MLR
teams in action at Sam Boyd Sta-
dium.
Earlier this week, Jones
watched three MLR games on
TV.
“It’s what national selectors
should be doing,” he said. “When
I came here [in October, 2017],
I’m like, ‘Where do I get the play-
ers? I can’t watch players play.’
It’s crazy. You can’t select.”Jones, a former Wales captain,
is both supportive of and real-
istic about the 12-team MLR, now
in its third season.
“I’m seeing improvements ev-
ery week. ... Everything around
it is getting better,” he said.
The league is drawing more
experienced coaches such as
Austin’s Mick Byrne, a former
skills coach with Australia and
the All Blacks.
But there is still more work to
do. Jones says he’ll see “some re-
ally good patches” in MLR games
followed by drop-offs in play.
Jones only has a handful of
top pros playing overseas these
days, including captain Tyler
Ardron (Chiefs, New Zealand),
Evan Olmstead (Biarritz, France),
Taylor Paris and Matt Tierney
(Castres, France), Shane O’Leary
(Nottingham, England), Brett
Beukeboom and Matt Evans
(Cornish Pirates, England), and
Will Percillier (Stade Francais,
France), who has been mainly
playing for the French club’s a-
cademy.
And with news that England’s
Rugby Football Union is cutting
funding to the second-tier
Championship, more players
may be looking across the Atlan-
tic.
Another reason the MLR is
important for Jones is the fact
that the North American league’s
schedule now dovetails with his
international calendar.
“The U.S. and Canada could
have a head start on a lot of the
world here,” he said.
“We could have a perfectly
aligned rugby season, where
they play January to June with
their MLR team and they come
in with their national team Julythrough November.
“It’s a game-changer and it’s
an advantage to Canada and the
U.S.”
The Americas Rugby Cham-
pionship (ARC), expected to be-
come the region’s World Cup
qualifying route, has been shift-
ed to August-September from
February-March, removing a
clash with the MLR – whose reg-
ular-season schedule runs from
February through May.
That means Jones should get
more time with his players. It’s a
huge plus, given he sees “lack of
team cohesion” as one of the big-
gest drags on the Canadian
team’s progress.
Last year, for example, he
used some 43 players for the
Americas event because players
had to be back with their clubs.
“We can’t build a team based
around that,” he said.
Jones notes that Canada had
the third-oldest team and the
third least caps at last year’s
World Cup in Japan.
This year, Canada has two July
matches ahead of the August
start of Canada’s five games at
the ARC with more tests expect-
ed in November.
Jones hopes to field a consis-
tent side to build his team and
culture.
World Rugby is looking at
combining the 2021 and 2022
ARC records to determine which
two teams from the Americas
qualify for the 2023 World Cup,
with the third-place ARC finisher
going to a repechage.
Saturday’s game at the Starfire
Sports Stadium is the Seawolves’
home opener.THE CANADIAN PRESSSouthAfrica’sKwaggaSmith,left,istackledbyCanada’sMattHeaton,centre,duringamatchatthe2019
RugbyWorldCupattheKobeMisakiStadiuminKobe,Japan,lastyear.Heaton,whoplaysfortheRugbyATL,
isoneofcloseto60CanadiansonMajorLeagueRugbyteams.FILIPPOMONTEFORTE/AFPVIAGETTYIMAGESNationalteam’scoach
closelywatchingrugby
leaguewheredozens
ofCanadiansplayNEILDAVIDSONTORONTOJonessees‘improvements’inMLR
SPORTS |