Bond’s big day ruined
THE pressure is on.
Bond University entered the 2018 Queensland Premier Rugby season with big ambitions and they now have all of the work in front of them after Easts put a dampener on their spectacular clubhouse unveiling on Saturday.
Following their 24-14 loss, Bond are seventh on the ladder with one win from four starts.
Coach Grant Anderson said the next month – featuring showdowns with Brothers (away), Souths (away), Sunnybank (home) and Norths (home) – would be critical to their campaign.
“The nature of the competition is that any team can beat anyone, you have just got to find that consistency,” he said.
“We are looking to finish the first round of games fourth or fifth, that’s the standard we have set for ourselves.
“Obviously (the loss to Easts) has put a dent in that but we get to regroup and train hard this week and have a crack at Brothers next week.”
The Bullsharks were never in the hunt, barely making it out of their own half in the first 40 minutes before a determined Easts outfit extended their advantage to 24-0.
Late tries to Mitch Third and Ryan Menzies gave the Robina crowd something to cheer about, having come in droves to see the official opening of the Fabian Fay Clubhouse.
“We obviously wanted to get off to a winning start (at the clubhouse); unfortunately it didn’t happen,” Anderson said.
“We just struggled to exit our own end and put a lot of pressure on ourselves by giving Easts a lot of opportunity to play with the ball.
“When we did have the ball, we just didn’t respect the possession enough. We were trying to overplay too much and not sticking to our shape and our structure that has served us so well in the first three games.
“I think the boys probably didn’t show up enough. Premier rugby is a week in, week out game and it’s a tough comp and if you are a little bit off your game, you can get beaten pretty badly.” ONLINE: Take a look at Bond’s new clubhouse