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The eastern half of the senior men’s Canadian Rugby Championship kicks off in Montreal on Saturday evening where the Quebec-Atlantic Rock will face off against the five-time MacTier Cup champion Ontario Blues. A dozen capped internationals are split between the two sides with three former Blues named in the Rock lineup assuring this will be hotly contested on the Concordia turf.
Jamie Mackenzie, Jordan Wilson-Ross, and Josh Campbell will all face their former team as they slot into the backline for the Rock. There are some surprise selections. Patrick Parfrey, preferred at fullback by Kingsley Jones, slots in at flyhalf with Cooper Coats instead wearing the No15 shirt. Tony Pomroy is named on the wing despite playing as a scrumhalf in his previous representative experience.
Up front the seemingly ageless Frank Walsh is named at loosehead prop ahead of Arrows rep Alex Forrest. The 41-year-old will go head-to-head in the scrum against another battle-hardened veteran in 35-year-old Rob Brouwer. Liam Carter and Lucas Hotton, both typically loose forwards, form a mobile second row ahead of a strong back row trio headlined by Canada regular Matt Heaton.
Former Canada ‘A’ No8 Zac Coughlan is a late addition to the squad, he takes up a spot on the bench. Along with Wilson-Ross and Campbell there are two further senior Rock debuts on the bench in Nova Scotia fullback Federico Cisneros and Quebec winger Maxime Perreault-Brière.
Meeting them is a powerful Blues pack that features Djustice Sears-Duru at loosehead prop. Brouwer captains the side with AJ Quattrin a surprise choice ahead of international Eric Howard at hooker. Paul Ciulini and Mike Sheppard power the engine room and Lucas Rumball’s battle against Canada flank-mate Heaton will be worth watching.
Andrew Ferguson and Shawn Windsor renew their partnership at the halfbacks with the latter named vice-captain. The rest of the backline has all seen Arrows action this season with the exception of Markham Irish fullback Jesse Lofthouse. A late change to the squad sees Kieron Martin drop out and another debutante flyhalf named in Nathan Boeyenga from McCormick Cup champions Brantford Harlequins.
On paper these are two competitive sides. The clear edge, however, goes to the Blues with their strong Arrows contingent very familiar with each other. A significant size disparity in the scrum suggests the Rock may have trouble in that department, with the Blues second row alone outweighing their opposites by a wide margin. All things considered anything but a statement win from Ontario would be a surprise.
Kickoff is set for 7pm Eastern time, 8pm Atlantic. A live stream will by provided by Rugby Quebec.
QUEBEC-ATLANTIC ROCK
1 Frank Walsh, 2 Martial Lagain, 3 Cole Keith, 4 Liam Carter, 5 Lucas Hotton, 6 Moe Abdelmonem, 7 Matt Heaton, 8 Matt Murphy, 9 Jamie Mackenzie, 10 Patrick Parfrey (capt.), 11 Tony Pomroy, 12 Jordan Wilson-Ross, 13 Aidan McMullan, 14 Josh Campbell, 15 Cooper Coats
Replacements: 16 Jordon Power, 17 Keelan Chapman, 18 Alex Forrest, 19 Toni Wodzicki, 20 Zac Coughlan, 21 Graham Barry, 22 Federico Cisneros, 23 Maxime Perreault-Brière
ONTARIO BLUES
1 Djustice Sears-Duru, 2 AJ Quattrin, 3 Rob Brouwer (capt.), 4 Paul Ciulini, 5 Mike Sheppard, 6 Peter Milazzo, 7 Lucas Rumball, 8 Kolby Francis, 9 Andrew Ferguson, 10 Shawn Windsor, 11 Kyle Lagasca, 12 Jamie Leveridge, 13 Mitch Richardson, 14 Kainoa Lloyd, 15 Jesse Lofthouse
Replacements: 16 Eric Howard, 17 Emerson Prior, 18 Mo Yusuf, 19 Tom van Horne, 20 Marcello Wainwright, 21 Riley DiNardo, 22 Nathan Boeyenga, 23 D’Shawn Bowen
Date: Saturday, August 4
Venue: Concordia University, Montreal
Kickoff: 19:00 local (16:00 Pacific, 20:00 Atlantic)
Broadcasts: Facebook
