Ian Birtwell (born ) is an English rugby union coach and a former player. He played as a scrum-half for Sedgley Park RUFC. Professionally, he was a research scientist heading the pollution and Toxicology Unit at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in West Vancouver. Birtwell played rugby union for Sedgley Park RUFC, a team in Manchester, arriving in Canada in 1972. He was a player at

Meraloma Rugby Meraloma Club (nicknamed the Lomas) is a Canadian rugby union team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Founded in 1923, The Meraloma Club originated as a swim club before branching out with an array of other sports including rugby. The rugby cl ...

, in Vancouver, later also being their coach. He was the coach of British Columbia from 1987 to 1989, and had the honour of coaching them in a match with New Zealand. Birtwell took office as head coach of Canada, in October 1989, leading them to the

1991 Rugby World Cup The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Five Nations Championship. This was ...

finals, where the "Maple Leafs", with an extraordinary team, reached the quarter-finals. He was also in charge at the

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in Sou ...

finals, where Canada had to face a very strong group, winning only Romania, by 34-3. Nevertheless, they had close matches with both

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, lost by 27-11, and South Africa, lost by 20-0. He left office in 1996, being replaced by Patrick Parfrey. Birtwell was briefly the interim head coach of Canada in 2001.

External links

Article About Ian Birtwell
1944 births Living people English rugby union coaches English rugby union players Rugby union scrum-halves Meraloma Rugby players {{England-rugbyunion-bio-stub