September 27, 2021 – Vancouver: Following a thorough recruitment process, BC Rugby announces John Tait as its new Technical Director. This position reports directly to the CEO and will play a vital role in building upon BC Rugby’s long history of success on the field.

John’s qualifications and experience made him the leading candidate for this position. John is an Olympic Bronze medal winning and two-time Pan-Am Gold medal-winning coach, with extensive experience leading elite Men’s and Women’s XVs and Sevens Rugby at National level and expertise in talent identification.

BC Rugby acknowledges past events and the subsequent Rugby Canada report released earlier this year.

BC Rugby CEO Annabel Kehoe said: “I appreciate some people may be concerned with this appointment, but the interview process directly addressed the Rugby Canada report, and we’re confident John is the right person for this position and will bring his learnings from the last year to better our programs. We look forward to John joining the team and together we are fully committed to continuous learning to ensure what we do represents best practice.”

Tait said: “I want to thank BC Rugby for this exciting opportunity and I look forward to applying my experiences to helping Rugby be better in BC. It’s no secret that it has been a difficult year and I’ve learned a great deal from this time. Looking forward, I aim to continue learning to support both coaches and players on and off the pitch.”

BC Rugby strives towards the highest standards of performance and conduct and requires all employees of BC Rugby to lead by example as articled in our Code of Conduct.

Moving forward, we will do more and learn together as a team. We are committed to providing an organisation, community and environment that is welcoming, safe, supportive and that protects the physical and mental well-being of all individuals.

As such, BC Rugby will invest in the professional development of all staff over the next six months, completing Respect in Sport training, as well as training that will help us create a culture that reflects our values of Safety, Integrity, Respect and Inclusion. The Respect in Sport training will be completed by all staff by the end of October.

BC Rugby thanks all candidates for their applications in consideration for this role.