Ian Birtwell

Ian Birtwell 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, 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] finals, where the "Maple Leafs", with an extraordinary team, reached the quarter-finals. He was also in charge at the 1995 Rugby World Cup finals, where Canada had to face a very strong group, winning only Romania, by 34-3. Nevertheless, they had close matches with both Australia, 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.