BC Bears

The British Columbia Bears (formerly Pacific Tyee) are the senior men's representative rugby team for British Columbia. They were founded in 2009 to compete in the Americas Rugby Championship against other representative teams from Canada, Argentina, and the United States.[1] In their inaugural season, the Bears went undefeated in round robin play against other Canadian teams and only fell to the Argentina Jaguars in the ARC Final.

BC Bears
UnionRugby Canada
Founded2009
Coach(es)Tony Healy
Captain(s)Anthony Luca
Top scorerConnor Braid (83)
Most triesSean Ferguson (6)
League(s)Canadian Rugby Championship
20171st (Champions)
1st kit
2nd kit
Official website
www.bcrugby.com

Beginning in 2010 the team, along with the Ontario Blues, The Rock, and the Prairie Wolf Pack, have participated in the newly formed Canadian Rugby Championship. This offshoot of the Americas Rugby Championship sees these teams once again compete in a round robin schedule.

Home grounds

The Bears do not have a permanent home ground but play at various fields around British Columbia. In their inaugural year the team hosted matches at Brockton Oval in Vancouver and MacDonald Park in Victoria as well as at Westhills Stadium (then known as Bear Mountain Stadium) in Langford. The 2010 season saw the Bears play exclusively at Klahanie Park in West Vancouver. 2011 saw the team again play a majority of their home games at Klahanie with the exception of one match being played at the Apple Bowl in Kelowna. For the 2013 season, the Bears played exclusively at Westhills Stadium.

Season records

Americas Rugby Championship
Season Position Played Won Drawn Lost Bonus Points
2009 1st (Round-robin)3300214
Canadian final BC Bears 12 – 8 Ontario Blues
ARC final Argentina Jaguars 35 – 11 BC Bears

Canadian Rugby Championship
Season Position Played Won Drawn Lost Bonus Points
2010 4th300300
2011 2nd5203412
2012 4th510415
2013 2nd5203412
2014 3rd6204210
2015 3rd210104
2016 4th400411
2017 1st4400218
2018 3rd4202210

Best in the West
Season Position Played Won Drawn Lost For Against
2019 1st21016050

Honours

Current squad

Squad for the 2018 Canadian Rugby Championship season

Props

  • Noah Barker
  • John Braddock
  • Nik Hildebrand
  • Clint Lemkus
  • Liam Murray

Hookers

  • Paul Ahn
  • Steven Ng
  • Blake van Heyningen

Locks

  • Mike Finnemore
  • Craig McLaughlin
  • Shea Wakefield
  • Cam Polson

Loose forwards

Half backs

  • James Pitblado
  • Jorden Sandover-Best

Fly halves

Centres

Wings

  • Jared Douglas
  • Fraser Hurst
  • Isaac Kaay
  • Clayton Meeres

Full backs

  • Sean Ferguson
  • Aaron McLelland

Notable players

Canada

The following players have represented Canada at full international level.

  • Ryan Ackerman
  • Noah Barker
  • George Barton
  • Connor Braid
  • Mike Burak
  • Luke Campbell
  • Admir Cejvanovic
  • Liam Chisholm
  • Luke Cudmore
  • Thyssen de Goede
  • Dustin Dobravsky
  • Joe Dolesau
  • Sean Duke
  • Guiseppe du Toit
  • Brian Erichsen
  • Ed Fairhurst
  • Aaron Flagg
  • Doug Fraser
  • Mike Fuailefau
  • Mitch Gudgeon
  • Ryan Hamilton
  • Brodie Henderson
  • Nathan Hirayama
  • Jake Ilnicki
  • Harry Jones
  • Adam Kleeberger
  • Anthony Luca
  • Phil Mack
  • Jason Marshall
  • Callum Morrison
  • Oliver Nott
  • Cameron Pierce
  • Pat Riordan
  • Jorden Sandover-Best
  • Theo Sauder
  • David Spicer
  • Brock Staller
  • Josh Thiel
  • Conor Trainor
  • Sean White
  • Eric Wilson

Overseas Representatives

The following players have achieved representative honours at an international level.

  • Andrey Proshin

Games played against international opposition
Year Date Opponent Result Score Tour
2009 17 October Argentina Jaguars Loss 11–35 2009 Americas Rugby Championship Final
2009 24 November  Russia Win 38–16 2009 Russia tour of Canada
2010 12 June England Counties Loss 7–46 2010 Tour of Canada
2010 18 June Royal New Zealand Navy (HMNZS Te Kaha) Win 71–5 Part of Canadian Navy's Centennial
2014 16 July Buenos Aires Loss 7–38 BC Bears 2014 South American Tour
2014 19 July  Uruguay Win 21–20 BC Bears 2014 South American Tour
2016 10 August North Otago Tie 22–22 North Otago 2016 Canadian Tour
2018 23 June Royal Air Force Win 23-19 RAF 2018 Western Canada Tour

Head coaching history
Name Years Record Percentage
Mike James 2009-2010 6-5 54.5%
Kris de Scossa 2011 2-3 40.0%
John MacMillan 2012 1-4 20.0%
Jim Dixon 2013–2014 4-7 36.4%
Dean Murten 2015 2-3 40.0%
Gabriel Fulcher 2016 0-5 0.0%
Tony Healy 2017 4-0 100%
Dean Murten 2018 1-1 50%
Scott Manning 2018 1-1 50%
James Thompson 2019 1-1 50%

References
  1. "British Columbia Rugby Union Announces BC Bears Franchise". B.C. Rugby Union. 20 August 2009. Archived from the original on 21 June 2014. Retrieved 2014-06-21.
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