Ontario Blues set to play Cork Constitution

Fresh off their fifth MacTier Cup victory in six years, the Ontario Blues will host Irish Division 1A club Cork Constitution at Twin Elm Park in Ottawa on Monday. Cork have a long history of producing top internationals with a number of British & Irish Lions on their books including Donal Lenihan, Tom Kiernan, and Ireland’s all-time leading points scorer Ronan O’Gara. This is the second match of their tour, having beaten Swilers 29-19 in St. John’s on Friday evening.

The Blues are largely composed of the players that contributed heavily to their Canadian Rugby Championship title, including Canadian internationals Rob Brouwer, Lucas Rumball, Andrew Ferguson, and Derek Daypuck. Former Canada ‘A’ lock Hank McQueen again leads the side and national u20 flyhalf Mitch Richardson will direct the backline. Brampton flyer Justin Tota starts on the wing, and teenage Brantford fullback Will Kelly is set for his senior Blues debut.

Cork are themselves coming off a successful season, claiming both the Munster Senior Cup and the All-Ireland Cup for the fourth consecutive year. Their travel squad includes a handful of players with Munster Academy experience and three recent Ireland u20 grads – prop Liam O’Connor, second row Evan Mintern, and flyhalf Tomás Quinlan. Also on the roster is Division 1A player of the year Conor Kindregan, and most notably former Ireland and Connacht fullback Gavin Duffy.

Kickoff is set for 6pm local time, with tickets available online or at the gate.

ONTARIO BLUES
1 Rob Brouwer 2 Brendan Black 3 Ryan Surgenor 4 Hank McQueen (capt.) 5 Mike Sheppard 6 Marcello Wainwright 7 Peter Milazzo 8 Lucas Rumball 9 Andrew Ferguson 10 Mitch Richardson 11 Josh Campbell 12 Derek Daypuck 13 Jon West 14 Justin Tota 15 Will Kelly

16 John Shaw 17 Tyler Doran 18 Pat Lynott 19 Gabriel Brocardi 20 Jason Hubbell 21 Jesse Lofthouse 22 Ibrahim Bouiahadi 23 Cathal Quinn

CORK CONSTITUTION
FORWARDS: Jack McHenry, Liam O’Connor, Greg Roche, Ger Sweeney, Daniel Coughlan, Cian Barry, Conor Kindregan, Evan Mintern, Darragh Moloney, Sonny Dwyer, David Fitzgerald, James Murphy, Robbie Walsh
BACKS: Jason Higgins, Alex Ryan, Tomás Quinlan, Michael Clune, Niall Kenneally (capt.), Liam O’Connell, JJ O’Neill, Sean Gray, Rob Jermyn, Michael Keyes, Billy Pope, Gavin Duffy