On Saturday, March 18th, Mike Sheppard became the thirty-sixth player in Major League Rugby to appear in 50 matches.
Mike Sheppard (Arrow #5) began playing Rugby while attending McMaster University from 2007-12. While at McMaster he would help lead his team to two OUA Championships and was selected to the OUA All-Stars.
Photo by Tek Ang
Upon graduating he continued playing rugby first with the Stoney Creek Camels and then with the Brampton Beavers. He was first selected to the Ontario Blues in 2013 and went onto compete in several men’s Canadian Rugby Championships representing the province of Ontario.
After the Arrows exhibition season in 2018, Mike would with the Toronto Arrows for their first season in MLR helping lead the team to the semifinals in the 2019 MLR Championship Series falling to the Seattle Seawolves. For the 2022 season he earned and was named the Arrows team captain.
He was first selected to represent Canada ‘A’ at the senior level in the 2018 Americas Pacific Challenge. Following the 2019 season he would earn his debut for Canada (Canada #459) against Kenya in the 2018 World Rugby Repechage. Sheppard has 11 Caps for Canada including three at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
As a senior club player he previously played for Stoney Creek Camels, Brampton Beavers, and the Ontario Blues.
To date in his MLR career, he has scored 10 tries, made 365 ball carries, has 2,092 meters run, made 467 tackles, 770 ruck arrivals, 23 lineout takes, and lineout steals.
Photo by Tek Ang
Major League Rugby is honoring the first 50 players to reach 50 caps and their role in building the legacy of MLR. The latest of the first thirty-six players to accomplish 50 caps for MLR includes Will Leonard of Rugby ATL, Franco Van den Berg of the Utah Warriors, and Billy Stewart of NOLA Gold.
Stay tuned for more announcements as players reach the 50 caps milestone, and cement their spot in Major League Rugby’s history.
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