Blues Sr. Women: Roster remains mostly unchanged for QC match

July 19, 2017

Blues Sr. Women: Roster remains mostly unchanged for CRC Game 2 vs. defending champs Quebec

(TRURO, NS) - The Ontario Blues Senior Women’s team opened up their 2017 Canadian Rugby Championship with a decisive 57-0 victory over host province Nova Scotia. The Blues rallied together as a team and used their speed, size and strength to their advantage - putting up 45 points in the first half alone.

The Blues dominance became evident during set piece situations in which the opposing Keltics side could not compete. Beyond Ontario’s heightened success in scrum and lineout situations, the Blues demonstrated effective line support in open field play and maintained extensive possession of the ball throughout 60 minutes.

Ontario’s offense set the tone early after McKinley Hunt went on a 60-metre run – offloading to support runner Colleen Irowa, before scoring the first points of the match. The Blues kept it coming as Flyhalf, Julia Schell stepped her way through and around a flat-footed Keltics defense before scoring two of her three tries on the day.

The second half of the game was much of the same story for the Blues, as the ladies continued to excel in set piece situations and in open field play. The Blues defense was put to the test in the second half as Nova Scotia’s offense pieced together several phases within Ontario territory – keeping the Blues on their heels for several minutes. The Blues defense remained strong, not allowing the Keltics to cross the line.

Although the second half wasn’t a high scoring affair for Ontario, the Blues played a sound game on both sides of the ball. As Schell added her third try of the day to complete the hat-trick, the Blues coasted onward to a victory over the host province in game one of the Canadian Rugby Championships.

Very few changes have been made to the Sr. Women's starting XV lineup ahead of today's game against Quebec. Both wing positions will see changes as Nikki Case will wear 11 and Zana Everett will wear 14 for the Blues. As roster changes are kept to a minimal – the Blues are looking to keep their winning record alive against Rugby Quebec. Rugby Quebec is also coming off of a high-margin victory over Nova Scotia and are the defending champions. Kickoff: Wednesday July 19th, 5:00pm (ET) – Truro Saints Rugby Club.

Ontario Blues Sr. Women - Starting Roster vs. Quebec - July 19, 2017

1 Veronica Harrigan
2 Emily Barber
3 Colleen Irowa
4 Fedelia Omoghan
5 McKinley Hunt
6 Daria Keane
7 Lauren Walkden
8 Sara Svoboda
9 Emily Ricketts
10 Julia Schell
11 Nikki Case
12 Lauren McEwen
13 Tash Smith
14 Zana Everett
15 Irene Patrinos
16 Ashley Snider
17 Tobi Owotomo
18 Louise Chen
19 Becca Gannon
20 Mel Judges
21 Saffara Whiteley-Hoffelner
22 Petra Woods
23 Megan Pakulis
24 Lauren Congdon

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/