Heartbreaking end for Bond Uni sides
BOND University has bowed out of the Queensland Premier Rugby finals after both remaining grades were knocked out in preliminary finals on Sunday.
Disappointment reigned on the bus trip home from Ballymore after Bond’s first grade suffered a 28-3 thrashing and the Colts Under-20s were dealt a heartbreaker in the final play.
It was the most successful season in Bond’s young history with the launch of a women’s team and third grade, with the club’s top
grades going within a game each of the grand final.
But there was no hiding the hurt in captain Dan Boardman.
“It was a really tough day,” he said.
“We’ve been around six or seven years now (as a club) but we have high expectations of ourselves.
“It’s unfortunate and it’s not pleasing, we won’t be happy about this, but Easts played awesome today.
“We’ve thrown everything at them and they defended.
“We’ve had a really strong season. The boys put in a lot of work and it’s been a tough
year but we’ll learn some good lessons from this and come back stronger.”
Bond scored the most tries and recorded the most linebreaks of any club in 2020 but execution failed them on a night where thunderstorms delayed kick-off by two hours.
Minor premiers Easts had no such trouble, flick-passing and sidestepping their way to a 21-3 lead at halftime.
A yellow card to winger Dylan Taikato-Simpson in the 39th minute opened the door to a Bond fightback but the Tigers’ defence repelled all advances.
Mitch Third’s 17th minute
penalty goal was the only score of the day for Bond as they exited the competition with their best-ever finish to a season but short of a maiden decider.
The hurt may have been worse for the Under-20s after a length-of-the-field intercept try condemned them to a 20-15 defeat to Brothers.
The young Bull Sharks rallied from 13-0 down at halftime to lead 15-13 in the 58th minute of the sudden-death preliminary final.
With 90 seconds remaining, Bond attacked the left wing searching for the try that would tip them into their second grand final since formation in 2014.
Instead No.8 Nate Searle’s pass was batted up and intercepted by Brethren fullback Athen Waia in the last line of defence. He evaded the chase of Spencer Jeans to score in the final play.
Two players were unmarked outside Searle when Waia’s all-or-nothing intercept try booked his team’s place in the final at Bond’s expense.
Tyrell Kopua and Jack Winchester scored tries for Bond while Hamish Roberts accrued five points from the boot.