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The BC Bears claimed top spot in the Canadian Rugby Championship west division on Friday evening by brushing aside a listless Prairie Wolf Pack by 37-20 at Klahanie Park in Vancouver. Two late scores eased the score differential in what was a very one-sided 29-3 game at the break.
Guiseppe du Toit and Gradyn Bowd exchanged penalties in the opening minutes but there would be little to cheer for Wolf Pack fans from there out. A quick tap from James Pitblado caught the defense asleep and Theo Sauder crossed for the first try. The second came soon after with Clayton Meeres stiff-arming the cover to race down the left sideline.
Two more would be created before the break. du Toit picked out a gap between two front rowers and found Pitblado on his shoulder to score from a line break. The Wolf Pack had a chance to attack but strangely opted for the posts on a penalty just before halftime. It didn’t pay off as the kick missed and the Bears regained possession. Sean Ferguson found himself one-on-one with Hubert Buydens and left the big prop for dead on an easy run-in.
Pressure from the restart looked to have faded when Mark Discombe knocked on at the ruck. He made up for his mistake with an intercept moments later, feeding Jake Bentley back on the inside to get some much-needed points.
It was a short-lived celebration. The Bears regained possession put the Wolf Pack back on their own goal line. A few phases later Travis Larsen squeezed in under the defense for try number five. du Toit couldn’t land the extras but the Bears were now up 34-8 and their opponents looked out of ideas.
The inability to produce quick ball thwarted any Wolf Pack offense. Late in the game they were caught against at the breakdown but Grant Crowell picked and dragged the defense with him over the line for a fine individual effort. du Toit would reply with a penalty kick before Evan Thomas crossed for a consolation score just before full-time.
It’s a bitterly disappointing result for the Wolf Pack who looked a shadow of the team that won in Calgary last week. They now return home to regroup as the number two seed in the west, with the winner on aggregate between the Ontario Blues and Quebec-Atlantic Rock awaiting in the Semi Final.
SCORING
BEARS 37
Tries – T. Sauder (15’), C. Meeres (20’), J. Pitblado (32’), S. Ferguson (40’), T. Larsen (48’)
Cons – G. du Toit 3/5 (21’, 33’, 40’)
Pens – G. du Toit 2/2 (6’, 74’)
WOLF PACK 20
Tries – J. Bentley (44’), G. Crowell (69’), E. Thomas (77’)
Cons – G. Bowd 0/1, R. Povey 1/2 (78’)
Pens – G. Bowd 1/2 (11’)
TEAMS
BC BEARS
1 Noah Barker (16 Blake van Heyningen 65’), 2 Steven Ng (17 John Braddock 51’), 3 Liam Murray (18 Nik Hildebrand 34’), 4 Travis Larsen (19 Jason Hignell 61’), 5 Shea Wakefield, 6 Dustin Dobravsky (20 Ollie Nott HT), 7 Nathan Stewart, 8 Luke Campbell (capt.), 9 James Pitblado (21 Jorden Sandover-Best 50’), 10 Theo Sauder, 11 Clayton Meeres (22 Mike Nieuwenhuysen HT), 12 Guiseppe du Toit, 13 Doug Fraser, 14 Jared Douglas, 15 Sean Ferguson (23 Josh Thiel 64’)
PRAIRIE WOLF PACK
1 Hubert Buydens (capt.) (17 Gareth Brown 51’), 2 Gabriel Kajdy (16 Tyler Rockwell 51’), 3 Ryan Kotlewski (18 Marko Klimenko 74’), 4 Conor Turner (19 Joshua Pritchett 74’), 5 Riley Fahlman, 6 Jordan Roberts (20 FJ Bronkhorst 72’), 7 James O’Neill, 8 Grant Crowell (23 Kyle Morrison 72’), 9 Mark Discombe, 10 Gradyn Bowd, 11 Cole Davis, 12 Ben LeSage, 13 Mozac Samson, 14 Jake Bentley (22 Evan Thomas 64’), 15 Cam Hall (21 Robbie Povey 51’)
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: David Smortchevsky (RC)
Assistants: Chris Assmus (RC) & Harry Mason (RC)
