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Hank McQueen will captain the Ontario Blues when they kick off the 2016 Canadian Rugby Championship regular season against the Atlantic Rock at Sherwood Forest Park in Burlington on Saturday. The veteran Balmy Beach second row leads an inexperienced Blues side absent numerous first choice players attending the Canadian national men’s team training camp ahead of the June test series.
Only two full internationals line up in Blue – Lindsay’s Rob Brouwer starts at tighthead prop with Doug Wooldridge and Tom Dolezel unavailable, and Oakville Crusaders loose forward Andrew Wilson wears no8. McQueen has been capped at Canada ‘A’ level, and three members of the 2016 Canada u20 side start in the form of loosehead prop Brendan Blaikie of Markham Irish, flanker Peter Milazzo from Toronto Saracens, and Stoney Creek’s Mitch Richardson at flyhalf. Nearly the entire bench will be making their senior Blues debuts.
The Rock will field a mix of familiar faces and a few new ones. Americas Rugby Championship caps Mike Hamson and Brett Johnson headline a side that also contains 2011 World Cup veteran Frank Walsh, at 39 the oldest player taking part by some distance. Barrhaven Scottish second row Conor Keys – another 2016 Canada u20 graduate – will make his Rock debut against his home province, while McQueen’s Balmy Beach clubmates Toni Wodzicki and Colin Alexander will line up on the Rock side.
The unusual timing of the match – a month before the rest of the CRC – has not done any favors for the Blues, and despite fielding an inexperienced side themselves, the Rock have an opportunity to get their first win over Ontario since August of 2010. The Blues are coming off a 2nd place finish in the 2015 tournament, while the Rock lost both their matches in Calgary to finish 4th.
The match kicks off 5pm local time, with a live stream available at www.rugbyontario.com.
ONTARIO BLUES
1 Brendan Blaikie 2 Brandon Black 3 Rob Brouwer 4 Hank McQueen (capt.) 5 Dillon Goos 6 Mike Sheppard 7 Peter Milazzo 8 Andrew Wilson 9 Josh Campbell 10 Mitch Richardson 11 Rich Lebel 12 Dan West 13 John Sheridan 14 Brandon McLeod 15 Matt Alexander
16 Chris Gladney 17 Armin Gurdic 18 Dylan Parson 19 Jeremy Wright 20 Marcello Wainwright 21 Chad Strapp 22 Hayden Ryan 23 Mark Denton
ATLANTIC ROCK
1 Frank Walsh 2 Owen Parfrey (capt.) 3 Jordon Power 4 Conor Keys 5 Brad Lester 6 Toni Wodzicki 7 Matt Murphy 8 Mike Hamson 9 Weston Hill 10 Aidan McMullan 11 Brett Johnson 12 Emil Sehic 13 Colin Alexander 14 Paddy McNicholas 15 Rob Law
16 Martial Lagain 17 Alex Forrest 18 Keelan Chapman 19 Chris Browne 20 Jack Thorburn 21 Tony Pomroy 22 James Mitchell 23 Bryce Thomassin
