Hospital Cup

Brothers have narrowly avoided defeat at the hands of a Bond squad rolling their last dice to keep their season alive, running out 42-40 winners after a last play penalty kick by points machine Benn Della Cort at the Canal on Saturday. The result has been crucial to both Brothers’ and Bond’s seasons, with the former now mathematically certain to play finals rugby, with Bond now unable to make the final four under almost any circumstances. It also sees Brothers’ record-breaking Bunter Bowl streak continue, the Butchers Stripes making their 15th successful defence.

Brothers entered the match having been undefeated since Round 4 and missing many of their high-flying backs due to injury and representative duty, ensuring that Head Coach Ben McCormack was on high alert for a Bond boilover, with the Bull Sharks having one of their strongest lineups in 2024 by some margin.

This appeared to concern the away team little in the opening stanza, with Dominic Fraser taking his familiar position at the back of a successful maul to crash over in the 6th minute, before Sebastian Hanna added another try two mnutes later.

Brothers began to dominate possession before Bond’s backs finally got into gear, spreading the ball wide to the freakishly talented Rhian Stowers to score in the 16th minute, with Bond immediately doubling down via another try scrum-half Samuel Dalton a handful of minutes later, tying the scores at 12-all.

Needing to settle the ship, Isaac Tarabay begun to maneuver the team into superior field position, allowing a rapid Della Cort to dash down the right wing, catching defenders on the back foot to steal the lead, with Atieli-Samuel Pakalani just making the line after a multi-phase build-up. Replacement Winger Kamilo Guido then struck out on the left edge within the shadows of half-time stretch the margin to 31-12.

Bond needed to score first in the second half to have any chance of turning the tide, and that is just what they did through some poor defensive decision making by Brothers allowing Bond Number 8 Nixon Taramai in to claw back the deficit to a try.

Not content to let that stand, Brothers marched up field through consecutive penalties, allowing Fraser to grab another try off the Maul, with Della Cort icing an easy penalty in front due to a Bond ruck infringement to give Brothers a 20-point buffer with twelve minutes remaining.

It should have been a case of match management from here for the away team, but the Bull Sharks clearly had other plans, playing Brothers side to side with Stowers finding space at will to give first tries to Jake Upfield, then two minutes later to Lukas Ripley. The indefatigable Hamish Roberts never looking like missing from the sideline on both occasions, putting Bond within a converted try of the lead.

The Brethren were beginning to look decidedly fatigued and with all of the momentum going against them, just needed to hold the ball for three minutes to close out the match, winning a crucial turn over before giving the ball away and allowing Stowers to break down the left wing and put in Joel Brown, with Roberts putting the home side ahead on full-time.

Brothers’ hopes of retaining the Bunter Bowl appeared in turmoil with last play called before the final restart. However this remarkable match had another twist in the tale that would dash the hopes of the home side.

Needing to regain possession, Brothers opted for an extremely short kick-off, with it not looking like it would make the necessary ten meters. However, a favorable roll gave Brad Hemopo the opportunity to swoop in and steal the ball, Brothers rolling the ball forward into the mid-field before Bond gave away a critical penalty 35m out and in front of the posts.

Yet again, Della Cort stepped up to the tee with ice in his veins, nailing the kick and seeing Brothers survive an almighty scare.

Premier Women

Brothers Premier Women have continued their massive uptick in form, going down 19-0 in tense match at Bond University.

Facing the top 4 teams in the women’s competition in succession, all of whom putting 50 point drubbings on Brothers in the first part of the season, the women from Crosby have improved with every outing, taking on the top two teams in as many weeks. Indeed Bond would well have fancied their chances at putting on a high score to improve their for and against at a critical point of the season, but Brothers Women had other plans.

Bond took until the 15th minute to strike against the away team, despite controlling territory and possession early on. Although they would score again before half time, they were frustrated time and time again by a dogged Brothers defense who owned their own 22 and kept finding ways to exit.

The second half saw Brothers begin to find some teritory, conceding a try early, but finding a way forward to be camped on Bond’s try line late in the half. Handling errors stifled any opportunity for the Brethren Women to score, but the performance will give confidence to the outfit ahead of a series of upcoming winnable matches to close out the season.

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