May 3, 2025, Round 5 Brothers vs Wests

Brothers have once again defeated Wests Bulldogs in a close contest over the whole round, beating the Bulldogs in five out of 8 matches in Queensland Premier Rugby, while Brothers Women continue their run of successes, defeating the Gold Coast Eagles. This weekend’s results have seen Wests lead in the Doughty Shield significantly narrow to 13 points ahead of Brothers with a round in hand due to the Round 1 bye, and see’s the Pilecki-Shaw Cup return to Brothers after losing it in 2024.

First Grade

Brothers have defeated their arch-nemesis, Wests Bulldogs in a thrilling 24-21 victory at Crosby Park to go to the top of the 2025 StoreLocal Hospital Cup table.

Wests and Brothers have been nigh on inseparable in their previous encounters, with the Brethren coming out on top in the 2023 and 2024 Grand Finals by two points in both matches, a fact that has left the Toowong-based club smarting. Adding to this, the Bulldogs are also having had their worst start to a season since 2019, with only won win to show, and a cumulative losing margin of 6 points across their other fixtures. This effectively made this fixture a must-win for Wests, and presented a golden opportunity for Brothers to further damage the momentum of a team many pundits considered to be Brothers’ biggest rivals for the 2025 title.

The match started in the now seeingly obligatory Brisbane rain storm, with gusty and wet conditions taking hold just in time for kick off. This however did little to halt the fast start from both teams, with Wests pushing the bull out to the wing, and pressuring Brothers early. The Brethren, however, managed a breakout and worked into position on Wests’ try line, with halfback Graham Urquhart burrowing over for the opening try after 15 minutes of play. Jude GIbbs then neatly nabbed the conversion.

The Bulldogs didn’t have to wait long to hit back however, with an atrocious Brothers kick-off putting the home side on the back foot, and repeat infringements earning Captain WIll Wilson a warning for his troops. The ensuing penalty, resulting in a slick lineout and quick ball to Wests’ Captain Pino Maupese who leveled the scores after Will Nason converted the extras.

Just as quickly, the momentum swung back to Brothers, with a line out from the left edge 40 meters out sweetly converting into a sweeping backline move, putting the lighting Oliver Harvey into space resulting in the right-hand corner. With the scores now 12-7 after 22 minutes, it seemed the pace of the game would continue to be a fever pitch, however both sides traded mid-field blows for the remainder of the half, with neither able to get the ascendancy, the score remaining unchanged at half time.

In the second half, the Bulldogs came out ready to make a statement, and blew out of the sheds with a vengeance. Brother’s conceded yet more penalties, and Wests dug in on the Brothers 5 meter line, with James Tofa punching a hole to score four minutes in, the Bulldogs leading 14-12 .

From here the momentum seemed to be all Wests, who were beginning to open up Brothers on demand, dominating both territory and possession. This converted into an even bigger lead for the visitors with Ben Navosailagi being the recipient of a perfect cross field kick from Edan Zaupa to take the lead to 21-12.

However, as the rain once again began to pelt down, the home side’s luck with loose handling off the kick off from Wests giving Brothers the chance to hunker down in the middle of the field. Despite further forays into their own territory, including the talismanic Benn Della Corte being sent to the Bin for cynical play, the men in butcher’s stripes held firm. Their chance to rectify the scoreboard soon game thanks to a genius moment of play from Athen Waia-McGuigan breaking the line and taking 60m, with the Bulldogs’ desperately knocking the ball into touch within striking distance of the line. This was the only invitation Hooker Dom Fraser needed, using his famour mauling skills to narrow the margin to four points with 15 minutes to go.

Brothers were now firmly winning the mental battle and soon won the lead, with further offensive pressure resulting in a penalty to place Brothers well within range. Reserve prop Atieli-Samuel Pakalani needed no further invitation with Gibbs reliably converting.

As is now typical for a Brothers Wests clash, neither team would lay down and die, and Wests had one final roll of the dice, parking five meters out for the remaining moments. A knock-on after time, killed their final shot at glory, the home side taking a dogged victory to remain unbeaten in 2025.

StoreLocal Challenge Cup

Brothers Women continue their impressive revival in 2025, winning their fourth match of the season over the Gold Coast Eagles 46-10.

Despite the scoreline, the Crosby Park natives had their work cut out in the first half, the Eagles staying with them in the first third of the match. It wasn’t until Hannah Rowan’s long-range try right before half time that the Eagles lost touch, but the platform for success was built by the ever reliable Maria Gabriela Graf steering her players into superiority.

The second half was a boon for Brothers, with five more try scorers crossing the line to put the match out of reach for the visitors with a late consolation try to Leilani Ngaoire giving the away team a moment of pride.

The result keeps Brothers Women in 2nd on the Challenge Cup table one win away from the lead.

Team of the Round: Fourth Grade

Having had some wildly inconsistent form in the early rounds of 2025, Fourth Grade needed a result against a Wests team running hot at the head of the table to keep in touch with the pack. They emphatically delivered, posting a massive 50-7 victory over the Bulldogs courtesy of a bullying forward pack and flyhalf Lewis Harper running riot across the park.

Results:

StoreLocal Hospital Cup: WIN 24-21

StoreLocal Challenge Cup: WIN 38-19 (versus Gold Coast Eagles)

2nd Grade: LOSS 39-30

3rd Grade: LOSS 26-22

4th Grade: WIN 50-7

5th Grade: WIN 31-17

6th Grade: WIN 21-15 (versus Brisbane Irish)

Colts 1: LOSS 45-12

Colts 2: WIN 22-15

Colts 3: WIN 41-10

Colts 4 Navy: 28-0 (versus Sunnybank)