Brothers 1st Grade has finished off their pre-season with a tour to the nation’s capital to play two on Canberra’s great rugby institutions, the Tuggaeranong Vikings and Gungahlin Eagles.
The day was a true festival of rugby, with teams from across the ACT and Southern New South Wales descending on Viking Park on what was a wet, cold and windy day. The weather however did little to dampen the enthusiasm of the players and local crowd, who were keen to see Queensland’s best taking on the John I Dent Cup’s runners up in 2024 and 2023 the Vikings, and the 2023 Premiers Gungahlin.
Tuggeranong Vikings v Brothers
Playing a reduced format to allow for the consecutive clashes, Brothers open their first match with a rolling maul try to starting Hooker Dom Fraser in the seventh minute, with Benn Della Cort slotting home the extras. The locals, however then started to build some serious momentum after the slippery conditions brought Brothers unstuck numerous times. The pressure eventually resulted in the Vikings scoring at 18 minutes to level the scores.
Brothers immediately struck back within two minutes, with a shanked Vikings kick-off allowing the men in Butchers’ Stripes to push deep into enemy territory, with consecutive advantages allowing a fleet-footed Will Cartwright to jet out to the left wing and score in the corner.
From here, the home side really began to muscle up, taking advantage of some poor Brothers handling to pin them deep in their own half. Brothers initially denied the Vikings for eight minutes of persistent pressure before eventually conceding a maul try in the right corner with five minutes left to play.
With their tails up, the Vikings went deep again, looking to steal the match, however a clutch turn over from a dominant Brothers scrum saw them on the back foot. Brothers then took a penalty with one minute to play that looked in kicking range, however a kick into touch followed by a knocked on ball saw full time blown with both sides unable to be split.
Gungahlin Eagles v Brothers
With a ten-minute breather between sessions, Brothers took stock of a new fresh-squad taking to the field looking fit and ready to challenge. And so the Gungahlin Eagles would come out firing, muscling up on Brothers and playing a confrontational brand of Rugby to unsettle the visitors early on.
Both squads settled into a tit-for-tat stalemate for almost 15 minutes, with possession and territory almost being split evenly, before Brothers began to gain the ascendancy and camping in the opposition 22. This pressure would eventually show with Gungahlin conceding three quick penalties, allowing the Brothers fearsome scrum to overpower the Eagles, allowing big Number 8 Brad Hemopo to pick up from the back and crash over to open the scoring, which was converted by Della Cort.
From the kick-off Gungahlin started to push hard on a tiring Brothers defense, and almost evened the score after 25 minutes, only to be denied by an off-side penalty. This allowed Brothers to relieve the pressure and build another assault into the 22, with stalwart Noah Neilsen executing a swift pick-up from the back of the ruck and run straight through the tiring Eagles defenders under the posts.
With the match in its final minutes, Gungahlin launched one final raid into Brothers’ territory, receiving penalties which gave them a consolation try on the wing after the final siren.
With Brother’s tour to Canberra concluded, a special announcement between Brothers and the Vikings shall be announced by the 10th of April, with plans for future involvement with the Tuggeranong-based club.
