Bond’s men’s side have fallen 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 7s teams in Queensland has them primed for the club state championships this weekend in Noosa.
How it played out:
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 comprehensive defeat of Darling Downs to book a spot in the quarter finals.
Bond took on the Pristine Warriors and the GPS Gallopers in the next two knockout finals and came away with superb wins with Hayden Sargeant and Rhian Stowers leading the way.
That set up a rematch of the GC 7s final and this time it was the Fijian powerhouse the Coastal Brothers who prevailed.
Bond were down 19-0 before launching a second half fightback but were denied by the clock as they fell five points short.
What they said:
Captain Hayden Sargeant led by example all tournament showing plenty of fight to the very end.
“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,” he 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.’’
In another physical final Bond came home strong but just wasn’t enough to get over the top of a skilful Coastal Brothers side.
“We just gave them to much of a head start which they were good enough to hold, but It was the game we needed heading into Noosa which is what we have been building towards,” he said.
Full Results:
V Easts Tigers W 20-19
V Darling Downs W 33-5
V Pristine Warriors W 17-12
V GPS 28-12
V Coastal Brothers L 19-14