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The Atlantic Rock under-19s came close to winning the national championship last year, losing by five points to Ontario in the Canadian championship game in Saskatoon, Sask.

The Rock’s Newfoundland coaching staff and the locals on the 2019 U19 Rock roster would love nothing better than to win a national gold medal on home soil.

“The reality is Ontario is still a very good team,” said Rock manager Pat Parfrey, “but our aim is certainly the gold medal.

“We had a good opportunity to win last year, but we failed in the last 15 minutes.”

Almost half the roster from that 2018 squad returns for the 2019 championship.

The U19 nationals open today at the Swilers Rugby Club in St. John’s featuring four teams — Quebec and Prairie Blizzard join the Ontario Blues and Rock, which is made up of players from Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

The Rock will be captained by Michael McCarthy, just back from Brazil and a stint with the national U20 team which finished fifth in the World Trophy junior championship.

McCarthy was “outstanding” in Brazil, according to Parfrey, making 100 per cent of his throws in lineouts.

Campbell Clarke, who plays for Canada’s U18 squad is the co-captain. Another local who is expected to lead Canada is Alex Hickman, who spent two months training in Christchurch, New Zealand last winter. Hickman was one of two Canadians identified for the opportunity.

Other Newfoundlanders on the team are David Mallard, Thomas Hagan, Hunter Ryan, Ellis Halliday, Connor McKinney, Alex Wiscombe, Matthew Terry, Ryan Goodyear, Josh Blanks, Seth Bryant, Evan McKenzie, Laurie Baldwin, Andrew Shears, Lucas Shortall and Piers Van Dadszelem.

The team is co-coached by Brendan Parfrey, Kevin Parfrey and Peter Densmore.

Two games are scheduled for today. Ontario and Quebec meet at 5:30 p.m., followed by opening ceremonies and a Rock-Blizzard matchup at 7.

The games will be the first on the new Swilers pitch following a $900,000 refurbishment. Work started in September and was just recently completed.

Some $500,000 of the $900,000 came from donors. The province and city each contributed $100,000 and $200,000 is still owed on the project.

robin.short@thetelegram.com