U16 Girls Jr. Blues Ready For UK Tour

November 05, 2019

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U16 Girls Jr. Blues UK Tour

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 5th, 2019

(WHITBY, ON) - The Ontario U16 Girls Rugby Program have completed the final stages of preparations for their 10-day UK Tour! The team will be travelling in the United Kingdom from November 7th until the 17th. 

 Team training sessions were scheduled to work in conjunction with the Fall 7’s Series, provided a base for the squad to develop some sense of cohesion. A two-game test series against Welsh Schools Champion Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy (October 27th and November 1st) set the bar for the level of competition that the team can expect in England.

“The first test was a great learning opportunity for the players and coaching staff.” stated Manager of High Performance Paul Connelly. “Bringing together players from the three representative regions (EORU/West and Central Ontario) is always a challenge. However, the team’s performance in the second test highlighted the potential that this team has.” 

The 10-day tour will have the squad based in Gloucester England as they will be training daily at Hartpury University. “Hartpury is one of the top facilities in the United Kingdom.  Not only is it home to one of the top university men’s and women’s programs in England, it is also the training location for Hartpury RFC (Championship League) as well as Gloucester RFC who compete in the English Premiereship. Our athletes will be immersed in a full-professional environment.” stated Connelly. 

The competitive portion of the tour will begin with a “controlled scrimmage” on Monday November 11th against the Hartpury University U18 squad. The team will then travel to Exeter on Wednesday November 13th where they will take on Exeter College (Academy Team for Exeter Chiefs RFC) and then complete their tour games with a match on Friday November 15th against SGS Filton Academy (Academy Team for Bristol Bears RFC).

“This will be a great learning opportunity for not only our players but also the Rugby Ontario Staff” said Paul Connelly. “Our “Big Picture” goal, is to develop partnerships with these elite academies so that our young players have the opportunities to compete against the best players in the world.”

The Ontario athletes will also be attending some top flight international fixtures while overseas. The group will attend three matches:

Hartpury RFC vs. London Scottish (Friday November 8th)

Gloucester RFC vs. Saracens (Saturday November 9th)

Fiji vs. Barbarians at Twickenham (Saturday November 16th)

Tours to Exeter, Bath, Bristol, Gloucester and of course finishing off with a day/night tour of London will provide a once in a lifetime cultural experience for our young athletes.

Good luck to our provincial players, we know you will make Ontario proud! Support the Ontario Jr. Blues Program by purchasing an item from the Rugby Ontario Online Store! To shop now, click here

MATCH SCHEDULE

November 11th, Match #1 vs. U18 Hartpury (Controlled Scrimmage)

November 13th, Match #2 vs. Exeter College  4:00 pm K.O.

November 15th, Match #3: vs. SGS Bristol Academy 10:45 am K.O. 

TOUR ITINERARY

ROSTER


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/


Rugby Ontario High Performance Staff

Sean Medeiros 

High Performance Coordinator

647-560-4790 x 1004

smedeiros@rugbyontario.com

Paul Connelly 

High Performance Manager

647-560-4790 x 1002

pconnelly@rugbyontario.com

WANT MORE INFORMATION?

Dalton Finkbeiner

Communications and Marketing Coordinator - Rugby Ontario

647-560-4790 x 1006
dfinkbeiner@rugbyontario.com


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