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.
Union | Rugby Canada | ||
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Founded | 2009 | ||
Coach(es) | Tony Healy | ||
Captain(s) | Anthony Luca | ||
Top scorer | Connor Braid (83) | ||
Most tries | Sean Ferguson (6) | ||
League(s) | Canadian Rugby Championship | ||
2017 | 1st (Champions) | ||
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Official website | |||
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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 | |
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2009 | 1st (Round-robin) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 14 | |
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 |
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2010 | 4th | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
2011 | 2nd | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 12 |
2012 | 4th | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
2013 | 2nd | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 12 |
2014 | 3rd | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
2015 | 3rd | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
2016 | 4th | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
2017 | 1st | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 18 |
2018 | 3rd | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
Best in the West
Season | Position | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against |
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2019 | 1st | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 60 | 50 |
Honours
- Canadian Rugby Championship
- Champions: 2 (2009, 2017)
- Americas Rugby Championship
- Champions: 0
- Runners-up: 1 (2009)
Current squad
Squad for the 2018 Canadian Rugby Championship season
Props
Hookers
Locks
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Loose forwards
Half backs
Fly halves |
Centres
Wings
Full backs
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Notable players
Canada
The following players have represented Canada at full international level.
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Games played against international opposition
Year | Date | Opponent | Result | Score | Tour |
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2009 | 17 October | Loss | 11–35 | 2009 Americas Rugby Championship Final | |
2009 | 24 November | Win | 38–16 | 2009 Russia tour of Canada | |
2010 | 12 June | Loss | 7–46 | 2010 Tour of Canada | |
2010 | 18 June | Win | 71–5 | Part of Canadian Navy's Centennial | |
2014 | 16 July | Loss | 7–38 | BC Bears 2014 South American Tour | |
2014 | 19 July | Win | 21–20 | BC Bears 2014 South American Tour | |
2016 | 10 August | Tie | 22–22 | North Otago 2016 Canadian Tour | |
2018 | 23 June | 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
- "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.