The many faces of Bull Sharks rugby were on display at Sunnybank on the weekend.
There was a fight to the finish mentality, spectacular scoring prowess, desperate defence and more than the occasional splash of individual brilliance.
The Premier Men showed grit and composure in testing conditions to edge out Sunnybank 33–31. After dominating early, the side had to withstand a fierce second-half comeback from a Sunnybank outfit stacked with Super Rugby and Fijian Drua talent, ultimately finding a way to hold on for a vital win.
In the Colts 1 clash, Bond kept their momentum rolling with a 38–19 victory, sealing the result off the back of a relentless second-half surge. The young Bull Sharks combined physicality with some outstanding team tries to break the game open and keep their spot firmly in the finals race.
The Premier Women’s side also delivered a commanding performance to bank a 45-12 win, continuing their strong run of form heading into the business end of the season.
Momentum is building nicely across all three programs with finals just around the corner.
Premier Men
Bull Sharks won 33-31
How it was won
The Bull Sharks got on top early but had to withstand a Sunnybank fightback in the second half in terrible conditions. This is the sort of game we might have lost earlier in the year, but they dug in and found a way to win.
What made you happy
Just finding a way to win. Sunnybank put out a very good football side stacked with up-and-coming Super Rugby players and Fijian Drua players Aisea Nawai and Jack Volavola as well as 7s star Isikeli Basiyalo and the boys fought to the end for a very important win.
Bull Sharks Football
The leadership of Tyler Campbell. Ever since he was challenged about his leadership midway through the season Tyler has been terrific. It was like he said ‘boys there is no way we are going to lose this game’, and lifted the side onto his shoulders and carried them to victory. On one run he bumped off four tacklers before finally being dragged down and the Bull Sharks scored off the next phase.
The work to do
The scrum wasn’t that good, and the maul defence needs a bit of work.
Trademark Players
Tyler Campbell was the standout player, and Dane Mason was very good also.
With Mick Heenan
Colts 1
Bull Sharks won 38-19
How it was won
Sunnybank were trying to lock away fourth position, it was a big game for them. We knew what was waiting for us, and we had to do everything right. It took us about 50 minutes to really get our momentum and put them on the pressure. They are the sort of team that can score intercept tries, or if we make an error, they punish you. And that's what they did. At half time it was pretty close, and then in the second half we did some very good things, probably some of the best football we have played this season. We were nice and physical, and we stuck to the game plan really well.
What made you happy
I thought the way we approached the game mentally was spot on, and we had to because our last two games we were really poor in terms of how we showed up.
Bull Sharks Footy
We scored some really great team tries with backs and forwards involved. One length of the field effort is the perfect example of that. We turned the ball over, Kenny Harris our big lock kicked it down the field, chased his own kick and got the ball back. He then popped it to Fergus Gillan who was a backing up who then passed it to Callum Simpson who’d made good ground to get there. Callum then drew the defence, gave it back to Ferg and we scored. Two of the players were our big forwards No. 5 and No. 6, sprinting the length of the field late in the game. The effort was great.
The work to do
Our kicking game needs to be a little bit better. As strong as it is, there’s been a couple of times where we have put the ball in the wrong place just for the sake of kicking it. Every time we kick, we must have a purpose behind it. We are very strategic with our kicking game and are getting better, but there was just a couple where I thought, we shouldn’t have put it there.
Trademark Player
We had called up Harry Ole from Colts 2 and he was awesome. He was physical. I’m really happy for him and it is great for us. He’s straight up the middle, holds his feet really well, I think he bumped off three blokes at one point. That’s the sort of stuff we have been lacking a little bit of, and he has taken it up a notch which was what I was hoping for.
With Rico Gear
Premier Women
Bull Sharks won 45-12
How it was won
The girls were really good on the weekend. I don’t praise the girls a lot but they were great. Our forwards did a number on Sunnybank and won the grind and our backs finished the job.
What you’re happy with
Everything is falling into play, we’re starting to get our fundamentals right. Defensively they were really sound, and we’ve been working really hard on the discipline part, we only had two penalties on the weekend. Their fight and their willingness to work for each other is really good.
Bull Sharks Footy
We’ve started to get everything right, we win in the middle and get into the edge. The Bond ball for us is moving the ball and making sure we’ve got different points of contact. Just keeping everything at high speed and playing eyes up footy.
Work to do
We’ve just got to fine tune everything. We’ve got one more round game so just working on structures and getting girls to play Bond ball. We will probably step away a bit and just let the girls play footy.
Trademark players
Ava Wereta got our banger of week. Grace Baker was close behind and Lucy Dinnen, who went from a six to a ten played really well as well.
With Lawrence Faifau