Maybe the Russians should stick to pucks.

The British Columbia Bears, making astute use of the speed afforded by the turf field at Bear Mountain Stadium, defeated the Russian national rugby team

38-16 last night before nearly 2,000 fans.

“They are big and strong but we’ve been together since the summer [winning the Canadian division of the International Rugby Board Americas Tournament] and that helped,” said B.C. captain Ed Fairhurst of Victoria, the two-time World Cup veteran.

“So it didn’t take us long to adapt to each other. A lot of these B.C. guys also play on the national team.”

It was the first IRB-sanctioned game on turf in Canada. The plan for B.C. was to take advantage of that against the larger IRB world No. 16-ranked Russians, who are preparing to face IRB world No. 14 Canada in a full Test match Saturday at Swangard

Stadium in Burnaby.

“We were trying to spin the ball out as wide as we could and play an expansive game,” explained Fairhurst, who graduated from the SMUS and UVic programs.

“We were expecting a highly-paced game and tried to get the ball out wider than usual. It worked. We beat them skill-wise to the outside.”

Matt Buckley of the Oak Bay-based Castaway

Wanderers, among the 12 players from Island clubs on the B.C. squad, had a notable first half as the Bears went into the break leading 19-3. Buckley’s cheeky chip in, fallen on by Brock Nicholson of Vancouver Rowing Club, accounted for B.C.’s first try at just six minutes.

A darting sprint down the left side by Connor Braid of James Bay gave B.C. its second try. Buckley, capping a bright three-way lateral passing play, gave the Bears their third try of the opening half.

“Everything was running sweet for us,” said Buckley, a transplanted Kiwi from near Auckland. “We had that trust and could feel where the other players were and what they were doing. That accounted for my chip-in for a try and the ball movement that led to my own try. It was a good turf to run on. It was very quick.”

The second half was highlighted by Sean Duke of the UVic Vikes rocketing deep into the end zone to jump on a chip kick for a try and Nicholson taking an interception and going nearly the length of the field for another B.C. try. Glen McKinnon of Capilanos scored the other try of the half. Braid had two converts for B.C. and World Cup veteran David Spicer of the UVic Vikes another. Andrey Prochine scored the nicest of Russia’s two second-half tries.

With any representative side, the captain’s role is crucial and it is one that has now fallen to the

30-year-old Fairhurst. He puts himself in his own cleats from a decade ago, when he was a young player, in considering how to handle his leadership role for B.C.

“I learned a lot from how the veteran guys from back then showed leadership when I was earning my first caps,” said Fairhurst.