The Ontario Blues Program
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Paul Connelly
Sean Medeiros
The Ontario Blues program is the High Performance team of Rugby Ontario. This program includes high performance age-grade rugby from U15-U18, as well as Senior high performance rugby for men and women (and their respective development teams).
The Ontario Blues program has a history of successful development along the player and coach pathway to Rugby Canada’s national program. The Blues also have a history of success on the National stage, in both fifteens and sevens.
Provincial Pathway
Ontario Blues Men’s Program
The goal of the Sr. Blues program is to provide an elite development opportunity for Rugby Ontario Men that bridges the gap between the U19 Blues and the Toronto Arrows/Canadian National Senior Men’s Program. This is a high performance developmental team that will focus on players who have the potential to play rugby at the next level. (Toronto Arrows/Canadian National Senior Men’s Team) All players must participate in the Rugby Ontario Senior Leagues and be in good standing with both club and province. The focus will be U-25 (with exceptions). Elite Ontario University and College Players would be encouraged to participate.
This year, the Sr. Blues will represent Ontario at the Eastern Canadian Championships that will be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia from June 27th -30th
Ontario Blues Women’s Program
Starting this season, the Ontario Sr. Women’s program will be divided into TWO REGIONS: Ontario West and Ontario East. The goal, for the shift to a regional approach is to increase the scope of the program as a whole, allowing more women the opportunity to compete at the provincial level, while developing through enhanced training touch points. All of this while reducing the cost associated with program through travel and time commitments. The training and competition schedule is directly aligned with the NSWT competition calendar. The “One Calendar” approach will give our athletes their best chance to go from “Blue” to “Red”.
The two regional programs will be comprised of athletes who have graduated from the U18 Blues program. After two months of regional training and intra-regional competition, TWO TEAMS will then be selected (Ontario and Ontario Developmental) who will represent Ontario at the Eastern Canadian National Championships that will be held in Quebec City from June 7th -9th.
Ontario Jr. Blues Fifteens Teams
For the 2019 season, Rugby Ontario will continue to further expand on the successful regional model that was established in 2018. With over 350 Jr athletes engaging in the Jr Blues program, Rugby Ontario was able to work with and develop over twice as many players as any season prior.
This year the regional model will expand to include all age grades, meaning reduced travel and additional touchpoints for all athletes selected.
| Ontario West (Hwy 400 West / Brantford / London / Sarnia) | Ontario East (Hwy 400 East / Including Barrie) |
| U15 West Boys | U15 Central Boys |
| U16 West Girls + Boys | U16 Central Girls + Boys |
| U17 West Boys | U17 Central Boys |
| U18 West Girls + Boys | U18 Central Girls + Boys |
All regional teams will compete in a 4 day camp at the University of Guelph, as well as at the Eastern Canadian Rugby Championships at Queens university. Each team will be composed of 24 players, 3 coaches and 1 manager. Within each age group structure there will be assigned a position specific skill coach focusing on the skills of Half-Back Skill Development, Line-out Throwing and Kicking.
Ontario Jr. Blues Sevens Teams
The Ontario Jr. Blues Sevens teams compete at Rugby Canada’s National U18 7s Championships in British Columbia. In 2018, the event will run from March 8-10, 2018. This year, the Sevens program will also be fielding a U18 Men’s and Women’s team at Tropical 7’s in Orlando, Florida on March 30-31, 2018.
‘The Program’: Ontario Jr. Blues Rugby Academy
Register for “The Program”
On top of the in-season teams, Rugby Ontario has introduced ‘The Program’ – a full year development experience for age-grade rugby players in Ontario.
More information can be found in the information document below.
Goals:
- To establish a Culture of Excellence within Ontario Rugby
- To improve the overall quality of Rugby in Ontario
- To develop Ontario’s top athletes for entry in National Programs
Components:
- 12 Month Strength and Conditioning Program / Testing supported by ETS (Elite Training Systems)
- Off-season position specific and core skill training
- Comprehensive Competition Schedule
Schedule:
Centralized Combine Dates (Whitby Dome)
- Combine #1: November 17th, 10am-4pm
- Combine #2: January 19th, 10am-4pm
- Combine #3: March 30th, 10am-4pm
West Academy (University of Guelph)
- December 8th, 12:30pm-4:30pm
- January 12th, 2pm-6pm
- February 3rd, 2pm- 6pm
- February 23rd, 10am-2pm
- March 16th, 10am-2pm
Central Academy (Whitby Dome)
- December 8th, 10am-2pm
- January 12th, 10am-2pm
- February 2nd, 10am-2pm
- February 23rd, 10am-2pm
- March 23rd, 10am-2pm
East Academy (University of Ottawa)
- December 9th, 8am-12pm
- January 6th, 8am-12pm
- February 3rd, 7am-11:30am
- February 24th, 7:30am-11:30am
- March 17th, 7:30am -11:3oam
