By Meghan Mutrie

It wasn't pretty, but the BC Bears were able to ride Nate Hirayama’s four penalties to edge the Ontario Blues by a score of 12–8 at MacDonald Park on Saturday.

The Blues’ defensive pressure kept the Bears from crossing the try line in the ARC semifinal, but four costly penalties within Hirayama’s range ultimately proved the difference.

Having smartly played the underdog role, the Blues made a convincing case to be the Canadian champions and looked to surprise the home side when flyhalf Steve Piatek split the uprights for a quick three.

BC had to rely on a number of shoe-string tackles to keep Ontario from turning their strong defence into more than the five points from centre Mike Scholz’s early try.

Coming into the semifinal, the Bears had scored the most points in the Canadian round robin and the Blues had given up the least, so Saturday’s low and narrow score was not entirely surprising.

The match took almost the full first 40 to take shape, as both teams resorted to put the ball in the air. When it moved to the ground, the heated rivalry materialized into a yellow card for each squad.

The Bears’ arsenal of forwards and backs was neutralized and the match turned into a duel of the flyhalves, Hirayama a current University of Victoria Vike and Piatek a former Vike. Each was instrumental for their sides, trading perfectly weighted kicks for territory.

Hirayama, the ARC's overall points leader with 48, acknowledged Ontario’s early bid for the win and credits the close scoreline to their defence.

“Especially going into the second half, [the Blues] had us worried. I think we were on defence most of the game. Ontario did well to pressure us on offense and their counterattack was good; we didn’t have many options when it came to kicking.”

Though the win came off Hirayama’s foot, Piatek actually had a better strike rate at 87 per cent entering this match. But the Bears’ flyhalf was able to make the Blues pay for their infractions on the 40m line.

Piatek was frustrated that the Blues, after holding the Bears try-less, gave up crucial penalties that now sees his squad playing for third place rather than first next week at the ARC Final.

“We did everything well, including giving up penalties. We’ll just have to take this into next week and prove we should’ve won today. It’s always fun to beat up on the Americans.”

Formerly awarded to the winner of the Rugby Canadian Super League, the MacTier Cup was presented to the BC Bears on Saturday for earning the Canadian title.

The the international component of the ARC also began today with the other semifinal, in Glendale, Colo., between the Argentina Jaguars and the USA Select XV. Argentina took the match easily, beating their American counterparts 57-10.

Fletcher’s Fields in Markham, Ontario will host the two final ARC matches on October 17. In the bronze final Ontario will square off against the USA Select XV at 1 p.m., and BC will play the final against Argentina Jaguars at 3:30 p.m.

BC Bears 12

Ontario Blues 8

Bears penalty conversions: Hirayama, 4.

Blues try: Mike Scholz. Blues penalty conversion: Piatek.