The Ontario Blues are the senior men's representative rugby team for
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
. They were founded in 2009 to compete in the
Americas Rugby Championship
The Americas Rugby Championship, often informally called the Americas' Six Nations, was an annual international rugby tournament between six North and South American nations: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the United States and Uruguay. Origin ...
against other representative teams from Canada, Argentina, and the United States. In their inaugural season, the Blues suffered narrow losses against
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...
and
the Wolf Pack before defeating
the Rock to advance to the Canadian Final. The Blues would again lose to BC, but defeated the
U.S. Selects in the bronze medal match.
In 2010, Rugby Canada changed the format of the Canadian competition of the ARC, introducing the
CRC. The four Canadian teams which competed in the ARC stayed the same, but now played in the CRC, with a Canadian Selects team being chosen from CRC players, and that selects team going on to represent Canada at the ARC. The Blues went on to win four straight Canadian Rugby Championships from 2011 to 2014 during a stretch where they were 19 wins and one loss over three seasons. The Blues have since won the MacTier Cup in 2016 and 2018.
Teams
In 2017,
Rugby Ontario announced that their entire provincial rugby program would be branded under the name "Ontario Blues", replacing the "Ontario Storm" name which had been used for the women's team. The Ontario Blues name now encompasses all provincial representative teams of Rugby Ontario. This includes age-grade competition (U15-U18), development squads (U19 Men's and U20 Women's).
The
Ontario Arrows
Toronto Arrows R.F.C. is a rugby union club based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that plays in Major League Rugby. The Arrows team is an independent off-shoot of the Ontario Blues provincial programme and is funded by a group of private investo ...
are a privately funded elite club, which is closely related to the Blues organization, that is in negotiations to join the professional
Major League Rugby
Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Off ...
for the 2019 season. The club will play exhibition games in 2018 at
York Lions Stadium.
Season Records
Americas Rugby Championship
Canadian Rugby Championship
Honours
*
Canadian Rugby Championship
** Champions: 6 (
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...
,
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
,
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...
,
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...
,
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
,
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
)
Current squad
Squad for the 2018 Canadian Rugby Championship season.
''Props''
*
Rob Brouwer
*
Djustice Sears-Duru
Djustice Sears-Duru (born 24 May 1994) is a Canada international rugby union prop who plays for Ealing Trailfinders and the San Diego Legion in Major League Rugby (MLR).
He previously played for the Seattle Seawolves and the LA Giltinis in ...
* Ryan Surgenor
* Pat Lynott
*
Doug Wooldridge
''Hookers''
*
Eric Howard
*
Andrew Quattrin
* Hank McQueen
''Locks''
*
Mike Sheppard
*
Paul Ciulini
* Kolby Francis
''Flankers''
* Andrew Wilson
* Josh van Horne
* Jeremy Wright
* Seb Pearson
*
Marcello Wainwright
''No 8''
*
Lucas Rumball
*
Peter Milazzo
''Scrum Halves''
*
Andrew Ferguson
Andrew Ferguson (born June 28, 1956) is an American journalist and author.
Career
Ferguson is currently a staff writer at '' The Atlantic''.
Previously, he was senior editor of '' The Weekly Standard'' (defunct since December 2018), and a colum ...
* Mario van der Westhuizen
* Riley di Nardo
''Fly Halves''
* Shawn Windsor
* Kieron Martin
* Roman Cao-Riquelme
''Centres''
* Jamie Leveridge
*
Dan Moor
*
Andrew Coe
* Alex Colborne
* Jon West
''Wingers''
* Josh Campbell
* John Sheridan
*
Kainoa Lloyd
''Fullbacks''
* Rory McDonnell
* Mitch Richardson
* Lucas Hammond
Notable players
Canada
The following players have represented
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
at full international level.
* Tyler Ardron
* Stu Ault
* Ray Barkwill
* Brett Beukeboom
* Rob Brouwer
* Aaron Carpenter
* Paul Ciulini
* Alistair Clark
* Andrew Coe
* Derek Daypuck
* Tom Dolezel
* Andrew Ferguson
* Eric Howard
* Kainoa Lloyd
* Jamie Mackenzie
* Phil Mackenzie
* Mark MacSween
* Rory McDonell
* Ander Monro
* John Moonlight
* Dan Moor
* Taylor Paris
* Dan Pletch
* Mike Pletch
* Lucas Rumball
* Mike Scholz
* Djustice Sears-Duru
* Mike Sheppard
* Matt Tierney
* Liam Underwood
* Andrew Wilson
* Jordan Wilson-Ross
* Doug Wooldridge
Games played against international opposition
References
External links
Rugby Ontario websiteARC website
{{Rugby union in Canada
Rugby union teams in Ontario
Rugby teams in Toronto
Canadian Rugby Championship