The BC Bears U19 and U17 XVs Teams returned home from Ontario as the 2026 Canadian U19 Rugby Championships and 2026 O’Neills Challenge Cup concluded Sunday.

At the 2026 CRCs in Guelph, the BC Bears had to settle for silver in both the U19 Men’s and U19 Women’s competition. After amassing three victories each against Atlantic, Alberta and Quebec throughout the week, Sunday’s Final fixture against the Ontario once again acted as the Championship decider for both programs.

The Bears U19 Women came agonisingly close to making it back-to-back CRCs Championships under Head Coach, Jake Thiel, and Assistant Coach Scott Hunter. The Bears defended valiantly but two tries in the final two minutes from Ontario sealed a 17-7 victory for the hosts. Prior to 2025, the Bears U19 Women’s Program had not won a game at the Canadian U19 Championships; the program has now won one Championship and one silver medal in the past two years.

The BC Bears U19 Men battled hard but ultimately succumbed 44-12 to a strong Rugby Ontario Blues team, inspired by a fantastic performance from their captain and No. 10, Jack Gore. For the Bears U19 men, it marked a third-successive silver medal showing at the national championships.

The BC Bears U17 Boys and Girls Programs contested the 2026 O’Neills Challenge Cup alongside their U19 counterparts at the University of Guelph. The shares were spoiled as the Bears and Ontario Blues celebrated one Series victory apiece.

The BC Bears U17 Girls lifted the O’Neills Challenge Cup for the second successive year after achieving a 2-1 Series win in their three matches against the Blues. The BC Bears U17 Boys battled the Blues all the way, winning Game 2 to force the decider, but were denied a second successive Cup win in an intense final game.

Full results and match videos are below.

All photos courtesy of Matthew Martin and Oscar Warburton.

BC Rugby would like to thank all our sponsors and partners for their continued support of Rugby in BC: Pomerleau, Malahat Skywalk, O’Neills, CTMS Travel Group, Hub, GFL, Purdey Group, The Limona Group, Holiday Inn Express, Coastland Wood Industries, Keycorp, Wales McLelland Construction, JBW Commercial, NAC, Pacific Plumbing, Heading & Refrigeration, Chandos and Copcan.