U19 Blues to host New Zealand touring side St. Peter's College

July 07, 2017

U19 Blues back in action July 9 vs. St. Peter's College (Gore); Photo Credit to Allison Bradfield

(BURLINGTON, ON) - The U19 Blues are back in action this weekend in Burlington, Ontario. The Blues - along with the Burlington Centaurs - will be hosting a St. Peter's College from Gore, New Zealand for a match on July 9 at 3:00pm EST.

St. Peter's College - a Catholic school based out of Gore, New Zealand - has a long tradition of sporting achievement that reflects the ever-increasing range of sporting opportunities offered to students. Even though St Peter’s College is not a big school, it regularly produces nationally ranked sports teams and individual athletes.

The match will help the U19 squad prepare for the 2017 Canadian Rugby Championships (CRC) in Truro, Nova Scotia. The CRC competition begins July 17-22. Last year, the U19 team won silver at the tournament, which was at Fletcher's Fields in Markham.

The U19's last took the field this past weekend against the Boys High School All-Americans East. The All-Americans took both games in the two-game series against the Ontario Blues Under-19 Men’s development program. The Blues look to bounce back to their winning ways in this match ahead of the CRCs in Nova Scotia.

U19 Blues 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/