Buried at the end of Rugby Canada's press release announcing the match between the U.S. and Canada in Ottawa on August 22nd was a note about the ARP All-Stars taking on the Ontario Blues after the main match. In order to get more information on the match we briefing chatted with Old Blue's Steve Lewis to find out how the match came together, the selection process, and more.
TIAR: How did the idea for an ARP-Ontario match come about?
Steve Lewis: Old Blue have a good relationship with Mark Winokur who runs the Ontario program, we travelled there to play in May and Ontario have expressed an interest in joining the ARP next season. Like the clubs in the Northeast, Ontario are looking for the best, cheapest competition. Toronto is closer and cheaper flights than say, Chicago. As test match is in Ottawa, they asked us to provide opposition for curtain-raiser, originally it was to be a NYC Select side, but Marty Veale and I decided it would be better to expand to an ARP Select side and boost ARP comp profile.
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TIAR: How will selections be determined for the team?
SL: Marty Veale (Old Blue) will be Head Coach, John Ryan (NYAC) will be Manager and all 5 club coaches have already been approached as regards selections. It is intended to include players from all 5 sides in a Barbarian-style format.
TIAR: Is this type of fixture something the league wants to happen regularly?
SL: Yes, we envisage 1 or 2 games per year, possible other opponents might include PRP Select or incoming touring teams etc.
TIAR: Do you envision players who aren't on the U.S. roster for the Canada match playing in the match?
SL: We would be happy to include players from Northeast clubs not on the US test match roster and are happy to work with USA coaches in that regard. While it is obviously a preseason game there are few conflicts, other than some players who may be involved with Northeast/NYC 7’s in Limerick with me.