The Bull Sharks have continued their stellar start to the season by climbing off the canvas to deliver a knockout blow to Easts Tigers at The Canal on Saturday.
Bond are now two from two in 2023 after scoring twice in a minute to claim a 39-33 win and secure the Batty-Bremner-Thomas Trophy.
How it unfolded:
It was all about the Bull Sharks in the first half as they put on a show in their first home game of the season, racing to a 15-0 lead courtesy of tries to Hamish Roberts and Molo Sooaemalelagi.
But the Tigers managed to stall the celebrations with the first try of the second half.
The Bull Sharks struck back when a clever Tyler Campbell grubber kick set up Welsh centre Cameron Lewis for his first try for Bond.
The game evolved into a slug fest with both sides trading blows as the score reached 27-14 to Bond with 13 minutes on the clock.
However, the Tigers forward pack was starting to cause major headaches for Bond coach Grant Anderson.
The Bull Sharks were down to 14 men when Tomas Grenon received a yellow card, and the Tigers capitalised, securing two tries in five minutes to make it a one-point game with just six minutes to go.
The Easts forwards pressed their advantage, once again silencing the vocal home crowd with a rolling maul that led to a another try and a 33-27 lead.
Bond needed to play to their strengths to stay in the fight and a brilliant cut-out pass on the Tigers’ line from flyhalf Campbell found the elusive Rhian Stowers who crashed over in the corner.
It set up Hamish Roberts with a sideline conversion attempt to regain the lead.
When the ball sailed wide the Bull Sharks trailed by one, leaving them with one more roll of the dice, 30 seconds on the clock and 90m of territory to cover.
The Bull Sharks love nothing better than expansive, free-flowing rugby and with no choice but to throw caution to the wind, they went on an all-out attack.
One by one the crowd rose to their feet as the Bull Sharks gobbled up the metres.
With the clock expired, the home side had to keep the ball alive. They spread it wide through Jayden Ngamanu who linked with centre Dan Boardman whose bullet-like pass found Stowers who crossed in the same position as the minute before to secure the win.
What they said:
First Grade captain Lachlan Connors spoke about the outright belief in the group that allowed them to find a way to win.
“We were down points at the end and we came in together and we just had to reset and talk about the strategy. We train for these situations,” he said.
“We never doubted our ability to get it done but it was awesome to execute through those passes and phase play.”
Connors is First Grade captain this season which is a story of perseverance after he suffered an horrific leg injury a few seasons ago.
“I’m super-proud to be here and proud of these boys. You can see the love we have in the group, and it was great to get the win at home,” he said.
Premier Women:
The Premier Women continued their form against the Tigers securing a 45-7 win in a comprehensive performance with Grace Baker and Jetaya Faifua leading the way in the seven-tries-to-one drubbing.
Up next:
The competition pauses next week for Easter, with the Bull Sharks’ next assignment coming at Crosby Park when they take on heavyweights Brothers on April 15.
Full Results:
First grade: W 39-33
Premier Women: W 45-7
Colts one: L 8-3
Second grade: L 29-12
Third grade: L 25-12
Colts two: L 40-0