Ontario Blues and Old Blue set for Battle

It’s the Battle of Blue in New York as the Ontario Blues travel to Randall’s Island to face Old Blue on Saturday. The 2016 Canadian CRC Champions will step onto the field for the first time in 2017 to test their mettle against one of the leading members of the American Rugby Premiership.

Old Blue will be absent three of their Eagles internationals with no sign of Demecus Beach, Nate Augspurger, or Ryan Matyas in the lineup but still feature two capped players in flyhalf James Bird and the flying Luke Hume, who lines up at fullback. PRO Rugby stars Sebastián Kalm and Dylan Fawsitt complete a strong back row with captain Alex Schwarz, and there is a strong lineout presence in second row Dave Shotton. Eagles ARC prop Tony Purpura is among the reserves.

The Blues meanwhile boast four Canadian internationals in the pack and another three on the bench. Rob Brouwer and Tom Dolezel prop up the scrum with Lucas Rumball and Andrew Wilson in the loose forwards. Andrew Ferguson is a key man at scrumhalf with dangerous runners in Kainoa Lloyd and Rory McDonell out wide. Paul Ciulini and Seb Pearson will make their awaited returns from the bench, and former Bath academy member Kyle Knight is set to make his Blues debut in the midfield.

Old Blue previously traveled to Toronto in May 2015, with Ontario claiming victory by a score of 43-31. Kickoff is set for 2:30pm Eastern. There will not be a live stream available.

OLD BLUE
1 James Hadley, 2 Mike Brown, 3 Jimmy Sheridan, 4 Dave Shotton, 5 Calder Orr, 6 Alex Schwarz (capt.), 7 Sebastián Kalm, 8 Dylan Fawsitt, 9 Jeremy Hanson, 10 James Bird, 11 Mike St. Claire, 12 Sam Bright, 13 Lance Cavanaugh, 14 Rick Kirkland, 15 Luke Hume

Replacements: 16 Paris Hollis, 17 Tony Purpura, 18 Gavan D’Amore-Morrison, 19 Sam Scroggins, 20 Josh Rice, 21 Josh Longmore, 22 Keenan Jacobs

ONTARIO BLUES
1 Rob Brouwer (capt.), 2 AJ Quattrin, 3 Tom Dolezel, 4 Hank McQueen, 5 Mike Sheppard, 6 Lucas Rumball, 7 Peter Milazzo, 8 Andrew Wilson, 9 Andrew Ferguson, 10 Shawn Windsor, 11 Kainoa Lloyd, 12 Kyle Knight, 13 Mitch Richardson, 14 Jon West, 15 Rory McDonell

Replacements: 16 Cam Sandison, 17 Pat Lynott, 18 Ryan Surgenor, 19 Paul Ciulini, 20 Seb Pearson, 21 Josh Campbell, 22 John Sheridan, 23 Mario van der Westhuizen