Blues blitz Bears to claim CRC final spot

The Ontario Blues put the 2017 Canadian Rugby Championship Final to bed in decisive fashion as they blitzed the BC Bears by a score of 58-36 at Calgary Rugby Park on Thursday. Nine tries in all sent the defending MacTier Cup champions packing. There were only glimpses of the attacking rugby they produced in Vancouver earlier in the month.

From start to finish the Blues looked the more composed side. Andrew Ferguson directed the attack and the forwards dominated the exchanges in tight. The Blues scrumhalf opened the scoring with a dart around the blindside for the first try. He would add five conversions and a couple penalties for a personal haul of 19 points.

Defense was largely a secondary concern for both sides, the Bears particularly woeful defending the fringes at the breakdown. Their offensive output stemmed largely from Ontario’s inability to control the restarts and clear their lines. To their credit, BC put points on the board when given opportunities.

Isaac Kaay showed his strength with ball in hand, scoring two tries from close range. He was no match for the pace of Kainoa Lloyd on the wing, however, with the Mississauga man showing the sevens exponent a clean pair of heels on one long-range effort. Lloyd would grab a double himself and proved a lethal attacker throughout.

Two rapid-fire tries in the final quarter eased the scoreline for the Bears. Ollie Nott’s arrival lifted the attack and two strong carries put them in position for Sean Ferguson to score. He would show his pace moments later as he finished off a Jorden Sandover-Best line break.

The final say went to Ontario, who were somehow prevented from scoring a pushover try but Mitch Richardson was able to finish on a crash ball. It came with the full compliment of reserves on the pitch. Their impact could be significant with only two days rest until the Final on Sunday.

 

SCORING

BEARS 36
Tries – I. Kaay 2 (7’, 32’), S. Ng (20’), A. McLelland (53’), S. Ferguson (65’), O. Nott (67’)
Cons – G. du Toit 3/6 (54’, 66’, 68’)

BLUES 58
Tries – A. Ferguson (5’), P. Ciulini (30’), P. Milazzo (35’), K. Lloyd 2 (38’, 50’), L. Rumball (44’), E. Howard (60’), M. Richardson (79’)
Cons – A. Ferguson 5/7 (31’, 39’, 44’, 51’, 61’), K. Martin 1/1 (79’)
Pens – A. Ferguson 2/2 (17’, 56’)
Yellow cards – M. Wainwright (45’)

 

TEAMS

BC BEARS
1 Noah Barker (17 John Braddock 55’), 2 Steven Ng, 3 Liam Murray (18 Nik Hildebrand HT), 4 Shea Wakefield, 5 Mike Finnemore (19 Travis Larsen 49’), 6 Dustin Dobravsky (20 Ollie Nott 61’), 7 Nathan Stewart, 8 Luke Campbell (capt.), 9 James Pitblado (21 Jorden Sandover-Best 66’), 10 Guiseppe du Toit, 11 Isaac Kaay, 12 Mike Nieuwenhuysen, 13 Doug Fraser, 14 Jared Douglas (23 Aaron McLelland 49’), 15 Sean Ferguson

Not used: 16 Blake van Heyningen, 22 Josh Thiel

ONTARIO BLUES
1 Djustice Sears-Duru (18 Doug Wooldridge 61’), 2 AJ Quattrin (16 Eric Howard 51’), 3 Rob Brouwer (capt.) (17 Roman Cao-Riquelme 78’), 4 Paul Ciulini, 5 Kolby Francis (20 Ben Jones 75’), 6 Peter Milazzo, 7 Marcello Wainwright, 8 Lucas Rumball (19 Josh van Horne 66’), 9 Andrew Ferguson (21 Riley DiNardo 66’), 10 Shawn Windsor (23 Kieron Martin 69’), 11 Johnny Sheridan, 12 Jamie Leveridge (22 Mitch Richardson 69’), 13 Andrew Coe, 14 Kainoa Lloyd, 15 Lucas Hammond

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Robin Kaluzniak (RC)