Day 1 Recap: Junior Blues at U18 7s National Championship

(BURNABY, BC) – It was a wet, rainy day in Burnaby for Day 1 of the Under-18 Sevens National Championship. Four Ontario Jr. Blues teams were in action on Thursday.

The Ontario Junior Blues Under-18 Men's Blue team was in for a tough schedule, as they faced Alberta and British Columbia. In their first match, they played a tight, back-and-forth game with Alberta, coming away with a 19-19 draw. The match against British Columbia was no different as the two teams traded tries throughout the match. British Columbia won the match by one conversion. The final score was 21-19. 

The Junior Blues Under-18 Men's White team was dominant on Day 1. They matched up against Manitoba and Indigenous Spruce (New Brunswick). They defeated Manitoba narrowly by a score of 10-7, while they defeated the Indigenous Spruce by a score of 34-0. 

The Men's White squad will play Saskatchewan in the Quarter-Final, while the Blue side will meet up with Eastern rival Quebec.

The Ontario Junior Blues Under-18 Women's Blue and White teams were placed into the same pool with two other powerhouse provinces - Alberta and British Columbia. Alberta won both contests against the Women's teams - defeating Ontario Blue 25-5 and Ontario White 28-10. British Columbia split the contests between the two Ontario teams. The host side beat Ontario White 26-7, but Ontario Blue were victorious in their meeting by a score of 24-14. 

The Women's Blue squad will meet Saskatchewan in the final and the White squad will take on Manitoba.

The event will be streamed via www.rugbycanada.tv.

To follow along with scores, statistics and standings, you can visit the following tournament pages:

Men’s - https://www.canadianrugbychampionship.com/leagues/front_pageRCEvents.cfm?clientID=2581&leagueID=27735

Women’s - https://www.canadianrugbychampionship.com/leagues/front_pageRCEvents.cfm?clientID=2581&leagueID=27737

You can also find up-to-date information about the teams by following Rugby Ontario on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

For more information on the U18 sevens teams, go to https://www.rugbyontario.com/u18-womens-sevens/ or https://www.rugbyontario.com/u18-mens-sevens/.

Day 1 Results

U18 Men’s Schedule – Day 1 – March 8, 2018

Ontario Blue 19 vs. 19 Alberta – 1:00pm ET (DRAW)

Ontario White 10 vs. 7 Manitoba – 1:22pm ET (WIN)

Ontario Blue 19 vs. 21 British Columbia – 3:30pm ET (LOSS)

Ontario White 34 vs. 0 New Brunswick Indigenous Spruce – 3:52pm ET (WIN)

U18 Women’s Schedule – Day 1 – March 8, 2018

Ontario Blue 6 vs. 25 Alberta – 1:00pm ET (LOSS)

Ontario White 7 vs. 36 British Columbia – 1:22pm ET (LOSS)

Ontario Blue 29 vs. 19 Ontario White – 3:52pm ET

Ontario Blue 24 vs. 14 British Columbia – 5:30pm ET (WIN)

Ontario White 10 vs. 28 Alberta 5:52pm ET (LOSS)

Day 1 Records

Ontario Blue Men: 0-1-1

Ontario White Men: 2-0-0

Ontario Blue Women: 2-1-0

Ontario White Women: 0-3-0

Upcoming Matches

Day 2 Schedule - March 9, 2018

Men's Teams

11:22AM ET/8:22AM PDT - Ontario Blue vs. Quebec (Quarter-Final)

12:06PM ET/9:06AM PDT - Ontario White vs. Saskatchewan (Quarter-Final)

Semi-Finals at 2:07PM ET/11:07AM PDT and 3:00PM ET/12:00PM PDT

Women's Teams

11:44AM ET/8:44AM PDT - Ontario White vs. Manitoba (Quarter-Final)

12:28PM ET/9:28AM PDT - Ontario Blue vs. Saskatchewan (Quarter-Final)

Semi-Finals at 2:29PM ET/11:29AM PDT and 4:29PM ET/1:29PM PDT

Day 3 Schedule – March 10, 2018

To be determined

For a full event schedule, please go to www.canadianrugbychampionship.com. Schedules, standings and scores can be found under the U18 Men and U18 Women tabs.

National U18 7s Rugby Championship Rosters

National U18 7s Rugby Championship Rosters (Men's)

Coaching Staff

Nigel D'Acre - Head Coach, Ontario Blue

Paul Myers - Head Coach, Ontario White

Khalil Ajram - Manager

Malik Carby-Crobett - Athletic Therapist

National U18 7s Rugby Championship Rosters (Women's)

Coaching Staff

Ian Fitzgerald - Head Coach

Sean Dunleavy - Assistant Coach

Sonny Raina - Assistant Coach

Vicki Woodhead - Manager

Perry Fan - Athletic Therapist

*Denotes returning player

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. The program includes representative teams from Under-15 to Senior in both Women’s and Men’s Fifteens and Under-18 Men's and Women's Sevens. 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?

Kevin Baxter

Communications Coordinator - Rugby Ontario

647-560-4790 x 1006

kbaxter@rugbyontario.com

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