BULLDOGS CURSING
BOND University just take a trick this season.
On Saturday, they showed significant progress by arguably outplaying finals-bound Wests, only for victory to again elude them.
The Bulldogs put themselves within reach of sealing a top-four finish with their 22-20 win but it could easily have been a vastly different outcome.
Despite the wooden spoon heading Bond’s way, the Robina club stood up in front of their home crowd to lead 8-3 at halftime.
That buffer could have been wider, had a penalty kick for the sideline not been shanked astray or a series of dominant scrums been converted into points.
The score went back and forth in the second term, with a late try off a rolling maul giving Bond the chance to lock things up at 22-all in the closing minutes.
Unfortunately, flyhalf Mitch Third’s conversion hit the upright, completing another heartbreaking loss. Centre Fred Keil had earlier been held up over the line.
But in stark contrast to the dejected feeling about their home loss to Norths last month, coach Sean Hedger said the revamped group had taken plenty of positives out of the contest.
“The difference between that game against Norths and now is a lot of those young blokes … there is a bit of a different feel,” he said, referring to the long-awaited arrival of under-20s stars including
Harry Nucifora, Dylan Riley and Angus Blyth.
“The bottom line is we are talking about next year a lot already. This year is what it is but there’s no use saying that these next two games are worth nothing; they’re not.
“This shows us where we are at for next year. We’re just building on everything to take into the off-season.”
Long their achilles heel, Hedger was delighted with the advantage his team held at the set piece.
Lock Jake Upfield again starred in defensive and offensive lineouts, from which rolling mauls produced tries for props Sam Clifton and JP Phelan.
Hedger put their vast improvement at scrum time down to a mid-season influx of quality props.
South African Brandon Landsberg, who played under-21s for Super Rugby franchise the Sharks, on Saturday became their latest addition, joining Phelan and former Tongan prop Eddie Aholelei.
Bond will round out the season with matches against Souths (home) and University of Queensland (away), whose 37-12 win against Easts at the weekend marked their 14th straight victory.