Men go close to making it a double

BOND’S men’s side fell agonisingly short of making it a clean sweep of the Brisvegas 7s, going down 19-14 in a terrific final against Coastal Brothers.

While the victorious women’s side recovered from an early defeat to claim the title, the men went throughout the qualifying rounds undefeated only to stumble at the final hurdle.

The impressive outing from the Bull Sharks against some of the best teams in Queensland has them primed for the club state championships this weekend in Noosa.

There was no easing into the tournament with Bond taking on heavyweights the Easts Tigers first-up.

They trailed by two tries in the final stages before fighting back to win 20-19.

The Bull Sharks then closed out day one with a win over Darling Downs to book a spot in the quarter-finals.

Bond took on the Pristine Warriors and GPS Gallopers in the next two knockout finals and came away with wins as Hayden Sargeant and Rhian Stowers led the way.

That set up a rematch of the Gold Coast 7s final and this time it was the Fijian powerhouse, the Coastal Brothers, who prevailed.

Bond was down 19-0 before launching a second-half fightback but was denied by the clock.

“It’s definitely been a tough couple of days, it wasn’t smooth sailing but there’s something about this team with the effort put in and you can’t really coach that,” captain Sargeant said.

“The determination that has been shown over the last two tournaments especially being down in the early stages of games and having the mental strength to come back is huge.’’