By Andrew Mckaysmith
The Bond University QRU Premier Colts 2 team achieved a 23-point victory over Easts Tigers in a spirited display at Bond rugby headquarters on Saturday April 13.
The victory means that Bond are now at the top of the table, which sets up a blockbuster clash in their next game against Souths, who are a point behind them on the ladder at the time of writing.
Prior to the match against Easts, Bond coach Brenden Jones said the team were travelling well despite a close round two loss to student arch-rivals University of Queensland.
“(We are) two and one, so we just lost to UQ which was an abysmal game, we made too many mistakes and we are a better team, but we just lost on the day.”
Colts 2 at Bond is akin to a development program for under 19s players in the Gold Coast region.
Mr Jones said he runs a dedicated talent identification program for Bond that gives young Gold Coast rugby players a chance to improve their skills.
“Part of what I do for Bond as well is I run a development program called the Pathway to Premier which starts at (age) 15 and 16,” Mr Jones said.
“We put those players through skills and strength and conditioning programs.”
The principle nursery of Australian rugby has long been the QLD and NSW GPS schools’ system.
Mr Jones said Bond’s Pathway to Premier program is active in encouraging all schoolboy talent, particularly those outside the GPS system.
“About three years ago there was a big divide between the TSS (The Southport School) boys and everybody else that turned up to training, they're bigger, they're faster, and they're stronger with much more rugby knowledge,” Mr Jones said.
“Sean (Hedger- former Director of Rugby in Coaching and Performance) and myself sat down with a couple of the parents and said if you want to compete with them, you need to do the extra training and so that's where a Pathway program came in.
“Every Monday and Wednesday I train up to… last year there was 20 kids in it and this year there are 70.
“They do strength and conditioning training every Monday and Wednesday and they do skills as well so by the time they leave school they are on par physically and skill-wise with your TSS’s… so that's like our development crew for next year and the year after.”
Bond has a bye in round 5 so catch all the action at the next match in round 6 which is an away fixture at Souths rugby.