Injury strikes as Bond Uni throws fright into premiers

BOND University blew a 15-0 halftime lead against reigning Queensland Premier Rugby champions GPS but that was not the worst news from their trip to Ashgrove.

In-form centre Corbin Kiernan (right) dislocated his shoulder in scoring the opening try on Saturday from 40m out. Depending on the damage that scans reveal, Kiernan could require surgery that may prove season-ending – though the Bull Sharks are crossing their fingers for a shorter layoff.

“At the moment he is the best player in the comp almost,” Bond coach Brad Harris said.

“He’s a significant loss but that’s the way it goes.

“He’s such a good player. He was untouchable for the first two games.”

Harris admitted there was no frontrunner yet to jump into the No.12 jersey in Kiernan’s absence.

“We’re going to have to think about what we do to be honest,” he said.

“At the moment depth is probably a bit of an issue in the backs but the one thing we have done is we have backed the blokes who have come in and we have given some opportunity to some of these younger blokes so whoever we choose will go well.”

GPS ultimately capitalised on a glut of second half possession and territory to overrun Bond 26-15.

“We went up there and challenged ourselves to start well, which we did, and then they finished over the top of us,” said Harris, who was overall relatively pleased, especially with his forwards.

“The key thing is if you want to compete at the top of this competition, you have got to play well every minute of the game and we had some moments where we went away from our systems and our structures, which hurt us, but there’s some valuable learnings there.”