Brothers First Grade have held out a bullish Bond University at the weekend to take a confidence boosting 38-27 victory to move clear at the top of the 2024 StoreLocal Hospital Cup table.

The match adhered to the age old cliche of it being a game of two halves, with the home side streaking clear to a 28-5 lead before half-time. These scores included a hat trick of tries to Brothers’ talismanic Hooker, Dominic Fraser, and a screamer in the corner for Sebastien Hanna before Bond surged in the second half to run in four unanswered tries, including a hat trick for Bond’s Hamish Roberts. Ben Dalle Cort, who had been struggling for consistency off the kicking tee in 2024, found some wonderful form taking a 100% record from the match and proved the difference before, substitute Scrum Half Will Cartwright put the nail in the coffin at the death.

The performance was scrappy affair at times, however it did allow for the First Grade debut of popular club man Hamish Muller at flanker. Muller was massive for the Brethren, putting in an enormous shift and playing a crucial role in defensive scrums when Brothers went down to 14 men on three separate occasions.

“Hamish was excellent today,” said Team Manager Sheldon Alcantara.

“He made such a difference to the attitude the boys took in when under pressure and a man short. His defensive work was impressive.”

Indeed Muller’s impact was felt throughout the match, playing a crucial role in spoiling a Bond maul denying the visitors a try on half time, and repeatedly toiling defensively to slow the Bond forwards down as they tried to seize momentum away from Brothers. This would prove crucial to the Butchers Stripes running the clock down to close out the match.

In other results, Brothers took home victories in Second Grade (50-12), Third Grade (42-5) and Colts 1 (22-19), and went down to the Bullsharks in Colts 2 (30-32) and Women (7-52).

Brothers take on Wests at Sylvan Road this weekend with a salivating 1 v 2 Grand Final rematch on the cards.