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The rematch of last week’s opening fixture of the senior men’s Canadian Rugby Championship takes place in Vancouver on Friday evening with the BC Bears host the Prairie Wolf Pack at the home of Capilano Rugby at Klahanie Park. A try in stoppage time from rampaging No8 Grant Crowell gave the Wolf Pack a thrilling win in Round 1.
With the aggregate score between the two matches determining seeding heading into the Semi Finals, the Bears will need a win of more than three points to claim top spot in the west.
Seven changes have been made to the team that fell 24-27 in Calgary. Starting hooker Steve Ng is fit to play but Paul Ahn is ruled out with a knee injury so the versatile Blake van Heyningen comes in as bench cover. Clint Lemkus sits out after dislocating a finger early in the last game. Liam Murray takes over at tighthead prop with Nik Hildebrand summoned to the reserves.
Packing down in the unfamiliar role of lock is Travis Larsen who replaces Craig McLaughlin in the engine room. Nathan Stewart, who filled in at lock in the second half last week, will instead start at openside flank in place of Ollie Nott who drops to the bench. Rugby league and Canada age-grade international Jason Hignell takes over from Conor McCann as a replacement loose forward.
A straight swap at scrumhalf sees James Pitblado rewarded for his try-scoring cameo with a start in place of Jorden Sandover-Best. There are two new wingers in Clayton Meeres and Jared Douglas, and a new fullback as well in UBCOB veteran Sean Ferguson. Mike Nieuwenhuysen and Josh Thiel drop to the bench with Fraser Hurst missing out altogether.
The Wolf Pack have taken the opposite approach with only one change to the run-on side. An injury to Nick Blevins sees Ben LeSage sliding in one spot and Mozac Samson starting in the No13 shirt. Hubert Buydens assumes the captaincy in the absence of Blevins.
Two further changes are found on the bench. Wombats front row Marko Klimenko comes in as tighthead cover in place of Logan Jones and flanker Kyle Morrison will wear the No23 shirt with the Pack opting for a 6-2 split with Robbie Povey and Evan Thomas the only reserve backs.
Discipline cost the Wolf Pack in last week’s match with the Bears also getting the better of the breakdown contest. If the visitors can tidy up their support work to take advantage of powerful strike runners Crowell and Samson, there is every chance the Wolf Pack head back to Calgary with a second win under their belt.
Kickoff is set for 7pm local time, 10pm Eastern. A live stream will be provided by BC Rugby.
BC BEARS
1 Noah Barker, 2 Steven Ng, 3 Liam Murray, 4 Travis Larsen, 5 Shea Wakefield, 6 Dustin Dobravsky, 7 Nathan Stewart, 8 Luke Campbell (capt.), 9 James Pitblado, 10 Theo Sauder, 11 Clayton Meeres, 12 Guiseppe du Toit, 13 Doug Fraser, 14 Jared Douglas, 15 Sean Ferguson
Replacements: 16 Blake van Heyningen, 17 John Braddock, 18 Nik Hildebrand, 19 Jason Hignell, 20 Ollie Nott, 21 Jorden Sandover-Best, 22 Mike Nieuwenhuysen, 23 Josh Thiel
PRAIRIE WOLF PACK
1 Hubert Buydens (capt.), 2 Gabriel Kajdy, 3 Ryan Kotlewski, 4 Conor Turner, 5 Riley Fahlman, 6 Jordan Roberts, 7 James O’Neill, 8 Grant Crowell, 9 Mark Discombe, 10 Gradyn Bowd, 11 Cole Davis, 12 Ben LeSage, 13 Mozac Samson, 14 Jake Bentley, 15 Cam Hall
Replacements: 16 Tyler Rockwell, 17 Gareth Brown, 18 Marko Klimenko, 19 Joshua Pritchett, 20 FJ Bronkhorst, 21 Robbie Povey, 22 Evan Thomas, 23 Kyle Morrison
Date: Friday, August 3
Venue: Klahanie Park, Vancouver
Kickoff: 19:00 local (20:00 Mountain, 22:00 Eastern)
Broadcasts: BC Rugby
