The Ontario Blues are the senior men's representative rugby team for Ontario. They were founded in 2009 to compete in the Americas Rugby Championship against other representative teams from Canada, Argentina, and the United States. In their inaugural season, the Blues suffered narrow losses against British Columbia and the Wolf Pack before defeating the Rock to advance to the Canadian Final. The Blues would again lose to BC, but defeated the U.S. Selects in the bronze medal match.
 | ||
| Full name | Ontario Blues Rugby Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Union | Rugby Canada | |
| Founded | 2009 | |
| Location | Toronto, Ontario | |
| Ground(s) | Fletcher's Fields (Capacity: 3,000) | |
| League(s) | Canadian Rugby Championship | |
| ||
| Official website | ||
| www | ||
In 2010, Rugby Canada changed the format of the Canadian competition of the ARC, introducing the CRC. The four Canadian teams which competed in the ARC stayed the same, but now played in the CRC, with a Canadian Selects team being chosen from CRC players, and that selects team going on to represent Canada at the ARC. The Blues went on to win four straight Canadian Rugby Championships from 2011 to 2014 during a stretch where they were 19 wins and one loss over three seasons. The Blues have since won the MacTier Cup in 2016 and 2018.
Teams
editIn 2017, Rugby Ontario announced that their entire provincial rugby program would be branded under the name "Ontario Blues", replacing the "Ontario Storm" name which had been used for the women's team. The Ontario Blues name now encompasses all provincial representative teams of Rugby Ontario. This includes age-grade competition (U15-U18), development squads (U19 Men's and U20 Women's).
The Ontario Arrows are a privately funded elite club, which is closely related to the Blues organization, that is in negotiations to join the professional Major League Rugby for the 2019 season.[1][2][3][4] The club will play exhibition games in 2018 at York Lions Stadium.[5]
Season Records
editAmericas Rugby Championship
edit| Season | Position | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Bonus | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 2nd (Round-robin) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 7 | |
| Canadian final | BC Bears 12 – 8 Ontario Blues | |||||||
Canadian Rugby Championship
edit| Season | Position | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Bonus | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 3rd | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 2011 | 1st | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 20 |
| 2012 | 1st | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 20 |
| 2013 | 1st | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 23 |
| 2014 | 1st | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 24 |
| 2015 | 2nd | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 2016 | 1st | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 14 |
| 2017 | 2nd | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 13 |
| 2018 | 1st | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 14 |
Honours
editCurrent squad
editSquad for the 2018 Canadian Rugby Championship season.
Props
- Rob Brouwer
- Djustice Sears-Duru
- Ryan Surgenor
- Pat Lynott
- Doug Wooldridge
Hookers
- Eric Howard
- Andrew Quattrin
- Hank McQueen
Locks
- Mike Sheppard
- Paul Ciulini
- Kolby Francis
Flankers
- Andrew Wilson
- Josh van Horne
- Jeremy Wright
- Seb Pearson
- Marcello Wainwright
No 8
Scrum Halves
- Andrew Ferguson
- Mario van der Westhuizen
- Riley di Nardo
Fly Halves
- Shawn Windsor
- Kieron Martin
- Roman Cao-Riquelme
Centres
- Jamie Leveridge
- Dan Moor
- Andrew Coe
- Alex Colborne
- Jon West
Wingers
- Josh Campbell
- John Sheridan
- Kainoa Lloyd
Fullbacks
- Rory McDonnell
- Mitch Richardson
- Lucas Hammond
Notable players
editCanada
editThe following players have represented Canada at full international level.
- Tyler Ardron
- Stu Ault
- Ray Barkwill
- Brett Beukeboom
- Rob Brouwer
- Aaron Carpenter
- Paul Ciulini
- Alistair Clark
- Andrew Coe
- Derek Daypuck
- Tom Dolezel
- Andrew Ferguson
- Eric Howard
- Kainoa Lloyd
- Jamie Mackenzie
- Phil Mackenzie
- Mark MacSween
- Rory McDonell
- Ander Monro
- John Moonlight
- Dan Moor
- Taylor Paris
- Dan Pletch
- Mike Pletch
- Lucas Rumball
- Mike Scholz
- Djustice Sears-Duru
- Mike Sheppard
- Matt Tierney
- Liam Underwood
- Andrew Wilson
- Jordan Wilson-Ross
- Doug Wooldridge
Games played against international opposition
edit| Year | Date | Opponent | Result | Score | Tour |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 22 August |  Midwest Thunderbirds
|
Win | 38-5 | Pre-season exhibition |
| 2009 | 17 October | USA Selects
|
Win | 27-24 | 2009 ARC Bronze medal match |
| 2010 | 8 June |  England Counties
|
Loss | 32-26 | 2010 Tour of Canada |
| 2010 | 10 July | Midwest Thunderbirds
|
Win | 38-5 | Pre-season exhibition |
| 2012 | 5 May |  Chile
|
Loss | 19-17 | Ontario Blues 2012 South American Tour |
| 2012 | 8 May |  Salta Province
|
Win | 32-26 | Ontario Blues 2012 South American Tour |
| 2012 | 13 May |  Uruguay
|
Win | 27-16 | Ontario Blues 2012 South American Tour |
| 2013 | 4 May | New York Athletic Club RFC
|
Win | 38-23 | Pre-season exhibition |
| 2013 | 23 August | Life University
|
Win | 36-20 | Pre-season exhibition |
| 2016 | 11 June | England Counties
|
Loss | 73-0 | 2016 Tour of Canada |
| 2016 | 29 August |  Cork Constitution
|
Win | 12-10 | 2016 Tour of Canada |
| 2017 | 29 April | Old Blue RFC
|
Win | 43-31 | Pre-season exhibition |
| 2017 | 20 May | Glendale Raptors
|
Win | 43-25 | Pre-season exhibition |
References
edit- ^ "New York and Ontario in Major League Rugby talks". 2017-11-13. Retrieved 2017-11-19.
- ^ "Ontario Arrows to launch Elite Rugby Team in September". 2017-08-25. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
- ^ Davidson, Neil (2017-09-08). "Ontario Arrows take first step toward becoming pro rugby outfit". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
- ^ "MLR reveals Finals Locations and Expansion Plans". 2018-03-07. Retrieved 2018-03-31.
- ^ "ONTARIO ARROWS ANNOUNCE YORK UNIVERSITY AS 2018 HOME VENUE". Rugby Canada. 2018-03-06. Retrieved 2018-03-31.