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Nanaimo Hornets after their third cup championship this rugby season

Apr 12, 2017 | 11:28 AM

NANAIMO — They’ve won two straight Division 1 rugby cups in 2016-17 and the Hornets are looking to wrap up the spring with one more.
 
Last weekend Nanaimo won the Cowichan Cup with a 37-31 decision against Westshore.
 
Coach Clive Stocks said they built up a 20-0 halftime lead and scored a couple of times late to solifidy the win.
 
The Hornets went 8-0 and won the Times Cup in the first half of the season, then they were 4-2 in the second half before capturing the Cowichan Cup.
 
Stocks is very proud of his squad winning both island D1 championships.
 
“I think we’re the only team that I can remember to win both of them, both cups the same year,” Stocks said.
 
With the win Nanaimo is now vying for the provincial championship. They’ll get a bye into the semi-final against the number two or the number four seed from the mainland.
 
It will be a home game at May Bennett Pioneer Park on April 29.
 
It’s not easy to find records from previous provincials, but Stocks remembers the Division 1 Hornets finishing second in 1992, and a Nanaimo championship from back in the 1980’s.  
 
Meralomas and Abbotsford are two of the top mainland teams this year, but Stocks said it’s hard to get an accurate scouting report on those clubs.
 
“We’re not 100 per cent sure about the Lower Mainland teams,” Stocks said. “We’re hoping we can get over there and watch a few games.”
 
Even video from out of town games is hard to come by. Nanaimo’s coach wants to see more access to game film for Division 1 programs but that hasn’t been made a priority yet.
 
If the Hornets are to finish the championship three-peat Stocks credits having a very good mix of players.
 
That includes several key veterans and some players from the VIU club rugby squad as well. 
 
He noted the coaches have implemented a new system this season and the players have bought in.
 
The results have more than proved that.
 
 
dan.marshall@jpbg.ca
 
On twitter: @danmarshall77