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Third place and a bit of pride are probably not what the Prairie Wolf Pack and BC Bears had in mind for their final match of the Senior Men’s Canadian Rugby Championship, but that’s all that will be at stake at Calgary Rugby Park when the two teams meet for the third time this season on Sunday. Both struggled in their respective Semi Finals on Thursday and have instead been consigned to the consolation finale.
Two changes are made to the Wolf Pack lineup from the team that came up short against the Rock on Thursday. Wayde Hodgen replaces Kyle Morrison on the flank, and Dalton Campbell gets his first senior CRC start on the wing in place of Cole Davis.
There are four further changes on the bench. Joe Franey takes up a vacant front row reserve spot and Connor Gilbert takes over for Josh Schlebach as back row cover. Jake Bentley takes the spot left open by Campbell and one veteran replaces another as Adam Bontus takes the No23 shirt from James Buchanan.
The Bears have sprung a couple surprises in their lineup. Ollie Nott is rewarded for his strong showing off the bench against the Blues with a start on the flank. It’s captain and No8 Luke Campbell who moves up into the second row to accommodate, with Dustin Dobravsky moving to the back of the scrum.
Another unexpected change sees Josh Thiel named at flyhalf. The 21-year-old made his Canada debut as a fullback during the Americas Rugby Championship but has played the majority of his representative rugby in the centres. Guiseppe du Toit reverts to inside centre and Aaron McLelland starts at fullback with Ravens clubmate Sean Ferguson sliding to the right wing.
The two sides split their opening home-and-away fixtures with the Wolf Pack strongest in Calgary and the Bears winning in Vancouver. At home the advantage should be with the Wolf Pack but they did not impress in the Semi Final. For that matter neither did the Bears.
Each side will be keen to show dramatic improvement but on only two days rest this is, quite simply, an unreasonable expectation. Recovery will have been a priority with ice bags more prevalent than rugby balls. Changing the spine of the team looks a major gamble from the Bears and that lack of continuity, above all else, suggests that the Wolf Pack may have the final say on Sunday.
Kickoff is set for noon local time, 11am Pacific, 2pm Eastern. A live stream is available on the Rugby Canada Facebook page.
PRAIRIE WOLF PACK
1 Logan Jones, 2 Gabriel Kajdy, 3 Ryan Kotlewski, 4 Conor Turner, 5 Riley Fahlman, 6 Wayde Hodgen, 7 Jordan Roberts, 8 Grant Crowell, 9 Gordon McRorie, 10 Robbie Povey, 11 Dalton Campbell, 12 Gradyn Bowd, 13 Ben LeSage (capt.), 14 Mozac Samson, 15 Cam Hall
Replacements: 16 Marko Klimenko, 17 Jake Horton, 18 Joe Franey, 19 Connor Gilbert, 20 Joshua Pritchett, 21 Brock Gallagher, 22 Jake Bentley, 23 Adam Bontus
BC BEARS
1 Noah Barker, 2 Steven Ng, 3 Liam Murray, 4 Shea Wakefield, 5 Luke Campbell (capt.), 6 Ollie Nott, 7 Nathan Stewart, 8 Dustin Dobravsky, 9 James Pitblado, 10 Josh Thiel, 11 Isaac Kaay, 12 Guiseppe du Toit, 13 Doug Fraser, 14 Sean Ferguson, 15 Aaron McLelland
Replacements: 16 Blake van Heyningen, 17 John Braddock, 18 Bryce Worden, 19 Mike Finnemore, 20 Travis Larsen, 21 Jason Hignell, 22 Mike Nieuwenhuysen, 23 Jared Douglas
Date: Sunday, August 26
Venue: Calgary Rugby Park
Kickoff: 12:00 local (11:00 Pacific, 14:00 Eastern, 15:00 Atlantic)
Broadcasts: Facebook
