Nanaimo rugby has made it back to the B.C. final.
The Nanaimo Hornets Div. 1 men’s side defeated the Bayside Sharks by a 26-7 score in provincial semifinal action Saturday at May Richards Bennett Pioneer Park.
“Guys are pretty happy,” said Clive Stocks, Hornets coach. “They’ve worked hard all season to get here and it’s showing.”
The Hornets knew the Sharks were a fairly big, physical team and had some ideas about the opponents’ tendencies, but the home side still got off to a bit of a slow start Saturday.
“We were a little bit rusty when we came out and they came out really strong. We managed to keep them at bay,” Stocks said.
Nanaimo was up 7-0 at halftime but the south-Surrey-based opponent got that back early in the second half.
“The middle of the second half we started taking off … it was a combination of things,” Stocks said, pointing to fitness and depth as factors.
Ryan Bradley scored two tries for Nanaimo, Harrison Stupich and Kiko Halaliku had one each and Brad Marshall made four conversions.
Nanaimo has already won the Times Cup and Cowichan Cup Vancouver Island championships so far in 2017. Stocks said the Hornets men will be making their first trip to the B.C. final in nine or 10 years, and said the team hasn’t won a provincial title in 25 years.
GAME ON … Nanaimo will face the Surrey Beavers in the B.C. Rugby Div. 1 men’s championship match Saturday (May 6) at 12:30 p.m. at Abbotsford Exhibition Park.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com