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The Bears host the Wolf Pack in the return leg of the western franchises in Johnsonville Canadian Rugby Championship action on Saturday. BC came up short by a score of 27-21 a week ago and will be keen to make home field advantage bridge the gap and earn their first win of the abbreviated season.
Only two changes are made by BC coach Gabriel Fulcher, both in the pack. Americas Rugby Championship second row Liam Chisholm replaces Craig McLaughlin in the no5 jersey, with the latter moving to the bench. Teenage no8 Taitusi Vikilani makes his first CRC league appearance replacing Brendan Kelliher, with Josh Clarke sliding over to the flank to make room. Burnaby Lake prop Adrian Langbone is set to make his debut as a substitute.
The Wolf Pack will be without star playmaker and goal kicker Gordon McRorie, with the international scrumhalf suffering an undisclosed upper body injury in last week’s game in Calgary. Thankfully they have an able replacement in fellow Canadian ARC squad member Jake Robinson to stand in, one of four changes to the team.
Casey Reed starts at hooker after scoring twice last weekend, with Matt Harrison missing out completely. Eric Lopatinsky sees his first CRC action since 2012, replacing Liam Beaulieu in the second row, and Conor Desmond gets his first start on the wing, with Ian Shoults moved to a reserve role.
Kickoff is set for 3pm local time with the match to be played at Bullen Park in Esquimalt, Greater Victoria. A live stream will be available at BC Rugby with commentary by Gareth Rees and Nik Witkowski.
BC BEARS
1 Anthony Luca (capt.) 2 Andrew Lackner 3 Ryan Ackerman 4 Kevin Leask 5 Liam Chisholm 6 Josh Clarke 7 Ollie Nott 8 Taitusi Vikilani 9 Jorden Sandover-Best 10 Guiseppe du Toit 11 Manar Kulkhan 12 Doug Fraser 13 Jeke Gotegote 14 Crosby Stewart 15 Brock Staller
16 Micha Govorchin 17 Adrian Longbone 18 Cody McClary 19 Craig McLaughlin 20 Admir Cejvanovic 21 Cody Rockson 22 Geoff Ryan 23 Gareth Marsden
PRAIRIE WOLF PACK
1 Peter Houlihan 2 Casey Reed 3 Ryan Kotlewski 4 Conor Turner 5 Eric Lopatinsky 6 Lucas Albornoz 7 Johnny Clarke 8 Clay Panga (capt.) 9 Jake Robinson 10 Robbie Povey 11 Adam Bontus 12 Ben LeSage 13 Mozac Samson 14 Conor Desmond 15 Graham Turner
16 Nick McAuley 17 John Braddock 18 Liam Beaulieu 19 Kyle Morrison 20 Connor Gilbert 21 Jake Bentley 22 Cam Hall 23 Ian Shoults
