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The Ontario Blues will look to quickly avenge their shock defeat to the Quebec-Atlantic Rock on Tuesday evening as the two sides go head-to-head in their second match of the Canadian Rugby Championship. Saturday’s result in Montreal was a bitter blow to the heavily favored Blues who must now recover from a 12-point deficit to claim top seed in the east ahead of the CRC finals in Calgary later this month.
With seven players away on Canada duty in France the Blues have been forced to make drastic changes including half the starting pack. Rob Brouwer switches to his preferred loosehead prop with Tom Dolezel answering an SOS at tighthead to reprise the Arrows front row. Tom van Horne jumps into the engine room along with Blues debutante Ben Jones, a tall English lock currently playing for Balmy Beach in Toronto. Marcello Wainwright fills in for Lucas Rumball at openside flank.
Riley DiNardo deputises for Andrew Ferguson at scrumhalf and there is an entirely new back three after a very rocky showing at Concordia. Kyle Lagasca and Jesse Lofthouse are benched and Kainoa Lloyd is away with Canada so it’s national sevens rep Josiah Morra on the left wing, speedster D’Shawn Bowen on the right, and Brantford flyhalf Nathan Boeyenga who slots in at fullback.
Along with the 10 Arrows selects in the run-on side there are four more on the bench. Jack McRogers returns as reserve hooker with Andrew Wilson returning as loose forward cover and Mike Smith back in the mix at prop. Rugby league international Graham Dobbs is the backup scrumhalf and another new cap joins the bench in Waterloo County No8 Matt Fish.
The Rock will miss out on four international reps and have made two further changes to the side. Jordon Power slots in at tighthead after covering hooker on the weekend, with a new second row pairing in Toni Wodzicki and Brad Lester. Moe Abdelmonem switches to his favored openside flank with Liam Carter moved from lock to the blindside.
Cooper Coats takes over at flyhalf with Maxime Perreault-Brière handed his run-on debut on the wing and Paddy McNicholas back in the squad at fullback. On the bench there are three additions in reserve hooker Owen Parfrey, new second row Mark O’Reilly, and Balmy Beach midfielder Colin Alexander.
Despite the changes and and their poor showing on the weekend the Blues must again be considered favorites. The return of Dolezel at tighthead is a major boost and the presence of 14 Arrows in the match day squad demands a step up in performance. Look for Ontario to take the win on home soil. Whether they can turn over the Rock by 12 points or more is the question.
Kickoff is set for 6:45pm local time, 7:45pm Atlantic, with a live stream available on YouTube.
ONTARIO BLUES
1 Rob Brouwer (capt.), 2 AJ Quattrin, 3 Tom Dolezel, 4 Tom van Horne, 5 Ben Jones, 6 Peter Milazzo, 7 Marcello Wainwright, 8 Kolby Francis, 9 Riley DiNardo, 10 Shawn Windsor, 11 Josiah Morra, 12 Jamie Leveridge, 13 Mitch Richardson, 14 D’Shawn Bowen, 15 Nathan Boeyenga
Replacements: 16 Jack McRogers, 17 Emerson Prior, 18 Mike Smith, 19 Matt Fish, 20 Andrew Wilson, 21 Graham Dobbs, 22 Kyle Lagasca, 23 Jesse Lofthouse
QUEBEC-ATLANTIC ROCK
1 Frank Walsh, 2 Martial Lagain (capt.), 3 Jordon Power, 4 Toni Wodzicki, 5 Brad Lester, 6 Liam Carter, 7 Moe Abdelmonem, 8 Matt Murphy, 9 Jamie Mackenzie, 10 Cooper Coats, 11 Tony Pomroy, 12 Jordan Wilson-Ross, 13 Josh Campbell, 14 Maxime Perreault-Brière, 15 Paddy McNicholas
Replacements: 16 Owen Parfrey, 17 Keelan Chapman, 18 Alex Forrest, 19 Mark O’Reilly, 20 Lucas Hotton, 21 Graham Barry, 22 Federico Cisneros, 23 Colin Alexander
Date: Tuesday, August 7
Venue: Sherwood Forest Park, Burlington
Kickoff: 18:45 local (15:45 Pacific, 19:45 Atlantic)
Broadcasts: Rugby Ontario TV
