U19 Blues looking for redemption against BHSAA; Photo Credit to Garry Coldwells
(Guelph, ON) - The Ontario Blues Under-19 Men’s development program looks for redemption as they host the US touring Boys High School All Americans for a two game weekend series at the University of Guelph. The series will commence at Guelph’s Varsity Field with Game 1 taking place at 7:00pm EDT on Thursday June 29th and Game 2 taking place at 1:00pm EDT on Saturday July 1st.
Last summer, the Men’s U19 Blues hosted the BHSAA’s touring squad at Appleby College in Oakville, Ontario – showcasing elite rugby talent from all over Ontario and over 13 different states. Both sides put on two very exciting matches playing smart, fast and skillful rugby right down to the final whistle. From the opening kickoff – the Blues need to set the tone early by implementing a high work rate and effectiveness during set piece situations and open field play.
The U19 Blues are looking to turn things around against the All Americans East Squad after falling to the Americans in consecutive games last summer (27-14) and (38-5). After releasing the 2017 short-list roster for the U19 Ontario Men’s program, Head Coach Mike Curran is ready to use this series as an opportunity to showcase Ontario’s high-performance rugby talent - leading up to the 2017 Canadian Rugby Championships.
Coming off a second-place finish at the 2016 U19 Canadian Rugby Championships, the U19 Blues are eying a gold medal in the 2017 tournament.
Ontario Blues U19 Men 2017 Roster – Name (School/Club)
Nick Martino (St. Joan of Arc SS / Barrie RFC)
Jack McRodgers (McMaster University / Aurora Barbarians RFC)
Emerson Prior (Trent University / Kingston Panthers RFC)
Connor Labbett (Bishops University / Toronto Saracens RFC
Alton Howard (Fanshawe College / London St. Georges RFC
Jeremy Gamm (Wilfrid Laurier University / Markham Irish RFC)
Aidan Foley (Western University / Crusaders RFC)
Adam Beaupre (KCVI / Waterloo County RFC)
Reece Honey (Fleming College / Peterborough Pagans RFC)
Owain Ruttan (University of British Columbia / Cobourg Saxons RFC)
Callum Tam (Oakville Trafalgar HS / Crusaders RFC)
Henry Stevenson (Royal St. George's College / Toronto Nomads RFC)
Evan Whiteford (LCVI / Lindsay Griffins RFC)
Michael Nwabufo (McGill University / Bytown Blues RFC)
Andrew Wilson (Erindale SS / Crusaders RFC)
Josh Engelbrecht (Oakville Trafalgar HS / Crusaders RFC)
Carter Bondy (Eden HS / Niagara Wasps RFC)
Puwayi Chinoda (University of Manitoba / Oshawa Vikings RFC)
Kevin Perera (McMaster University / Crusaders RFC)
Josh Andrews (Regiopolis Notre Dame / Kingston Panthers RFC)
Miguel-Fabian Palij (Pierre Elliott Trudeau SS / Markham Irish RFC)
Ethan Hager (Brantford Harlequins RFC)
Gabe Casey (Napean HS / Bytown Blues RFC)
James Hammond (Toronto Nomads RFC)
Non-travelling reserves
Graeme Francolini (University of Guelph / Burlington Centaurs RFC)
Talen de St. Croix (BCI / Brantford Harlequins RFC)
Staff
Mike Curran - Head Coach
Sean McDonaugh - Assistant Coach
Jim Delaney - Assistant Coach
Nick Manz - Manager
Blake Barry - Athletic Therapist
ABOUT THE ONTARIO BLUES
The Ontario Blues program is the high performance representative program for male and female rugby players in Ontario. Rugby Ontario is represented at the provincial level by the Ontario Blues High Performance program. The program includes representative teams from Under-15 to Senior in both Women’s and Men’s Fifteens. Specifically, the program is designed to develop and showcase rugby players for Canadian representative national teams.
ABOUT RUGBY ONTARIO
Rugby Ontario is the provincial sports governing body responsible for the organization of rugby in Ontario. Our mission is to establish a stronger identity for rugby in Ontario by promoting the sport’s core values and by fostering a culture of inclusiveness and excellence on and off the field of play.
To learn more, visit https://www.rugbyontario.com/
WANT MORE INFORMATION
Dylan Meredith
High Performance & Communications Intern - Rugby Ontario
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