Matt Heaton (born 9 February 1993) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player who plays as a flanker for

Rugby ATL Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

in Major League Rugby (MLR). He also represents Canada playing for the Canadian national rugby union team internationally. He was included in the Canadian squad for the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

which was held in Japan for the first time and which was his first World Cup appearance. Heaton is a 2 time recipient of the Rugby Canada 15's Player of the year award. (2017 & 2019)

Early life

Heaton was born in Godmanchester, Quebec. He first played rugby at age 14 and represented his high school Chateauguay Valley Regional. He later attended John Abbot College. Heaton’s first club was Ormstown Saracens RFC.

Career

He first played representative rugby for Quebec under 17s and under 18s before playing for Canada Under 20s. He represented Newfoundland at the Canadian Rugby Championships in 2014 and 2015 He moved to the UK and completed 4 seasons in the amateur leagues with Otley and Darlington Mowden. He made his international debut for Canada against Japan on 11 June 2016. He made his first World Cup match appearance against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

on 26 September 2019, as a substitute, in Canada's opening match of the tournament in

Pool B Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky po ...

. Heaton put in a 14 tackle performance on 2 October 2019, as a starter, vs New Zealand in Canada's second RWC pool match. Heaton scored his first international try on 8 October 2019, as a starter, vs South Africa in Canada's third RWC pool match. In 2020 Heaton moved to US Major League Rugby expansion team Rugby ATL and earned 3 appearances before the season was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was named team co-captain for the 2021 season.

Club statistics

References

1993 births Living people Canadian rugby union players Canada international rugby union players Rugby ATL players Rugby union flankers Sportspeople from Montreal {{Canada-rugbyunion-bio-stub