U19 Blues: Ontario falls to All-Americans in Game 1 of 2

June 30, 2017

U19 Blues: Ontario falls to All-Americans in Game 1 of 2; Photo Credit to Simon Jones

The Ontario Blues Under-19 Men’s development program hosted the Boys High School All-American East squad last night in Guelph for Game 1 of their two-game series. Although the Blues put on a defensive clinic in the second half, the All-Americans’ offensive onslaught in the first half was just too much for the boys in blue.

The American side got on the board quick after an long set of offensive phases from the Blues that went unrewarded. The Blues answered back quickly, though as Owain Ruttan got the ball over the line out of a scrum at the All-Americans' 5-metre line.

Ruttan’s try was all the Blues could muster in the game, though as the All-American side went on to score two more tries in the half and successfully convert both. At half time, the Boys High School All-Americans had a comfortable 19-5 lead.

The story of the second half was defense. Except for an early All-American try, the teams held each other scoreless. The final score of the match was 26-5 for the Boys High School All-Americans East.

The U19 Blues will get another crack at the All-Americans on Saturday, as they play their second game of the series at 1:00pm EDT at the University of Guelph.

Try Scorers

Blues – Owain Ruttan (Cobourg Saxons)

All-Americans – Cameron Tompkins, Eric Naposki-Abdalah, Trent Rogers, Ian Kilcullen

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

Boys High School All-Americans East Roster – Name (School, Hometown)

1. Andy Guhl (Royal Irish, Indiana)

2. Braeden Looper (Phoenix, Arizona)

3. Trent Rogers (Walnut Hills, Ohio)

4. Steven Benson (Little Rock Jr. Stormers, Arkansas)

5. Patrick Poulin (Fort Hunt, Virginia)

6. Asa Carter (Union HS, Oklahoma)

7. Cameron Tompkins (Sumner, Tennessee)

8. Joe Rusert-Cuddy (Palmer HS, 5785 (Colo.))

9. Conor Buckley (Xavier HS, New York)

10. Patrick Madden (University City, Southern California)

11. Ryan James (Cathedral Catholic HS, Southern California)

12. Campbell Johnstone (West Carroll, Maryland)

13. Ian Kilcullen (Gonzaga HS, Maryland)

14. Jack Bradfield (St. Edward, Celtic Elite, Ohio)

15. Eric Naposki-Abdalah (Fairfield Pagasi, Connecticut)

Reserves

Josh Zamudio (Little Rock Jr. Stormers, Arkansas)

Xavier Doering (St. Thomas Aquinas, KS, Heart of America)

Daniel Trump (Fort Hunt, Virginia)

Tim Adie (Pike HS, IN, EIRA MW)

Marshall Ney (Royal Irish, IN, EIRA MW)

Tom Stockton (North Carolina)

Mike Weir (Doylestown, Rugby PA)

Isaac Good (Brownsburg, IN, EIRA MW)

Robert Figley (Fort Hunt, Virginia)

Zach Rademacher (Harpeth, Tennessee)

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/