Bond University finished the regular season with a hard-fought 38-31 victory over the Souths Magpies at The Canal on Saturday.
How it unfolded
Bond started slowly with the Magpies producing two early tries through their strong forward pack to power to a 12-0 lead after 10 minutes.
However 22 minutes in, halfback Liam Dillon sold a big dummy and snuck through the Magpies’ defence.
Bond’s fightback continued when Dillon’s halves partner Tyler Campbell sliced through and showed a turn of speed to score.
On the stroke of halftime Souths scored again down the right edge to take a 19-14 lead into the break.
The problems continued for the home side early in the second half with Souths centre Robbie Orr picking off a wayward pass to run 70m and extend the lead.
In front of home fans for the last time in 2023, The Bull Sharks weren’t going to go down without a fight and they delivered when Connor Mceldowney sent a beautiful pass to find Jayden Ngamanu who unleashed Hamish Roberts down the sideline to streak it in for the try.
With 15 minutes left to play the Bull Sharks took the lead for the first time in the match when second rower
crashed over from close quarters to make the score 28-26.
It was a short-lived lead as the visitors produced a stellar counterattacking play to score a team try and re-take the lead 31-28.
But the game still had more to give and once again it was the Fijian powerhouse Rotuisolia who muscled his way over to score the match-winning try in the final moments.
A late penalty goal to Roberts closed out the game at 38-31 and made it seven wins in a row to end the regular season.
What they said
Halfback Liam Dillon scored a try and provided strong direction in the win.
“It was a tough match and Souths came out with a nothing-to-lose style of play,” he said.
“(The win) was a testament to the resilience this side has to fight back so I was super-stoked to be a part of it.”
Dillon has been a part of the Bull Sharks since 2020 and recently returned from injury.
“It was great to be back out there. It's a classy group of players and the quality through the entire 23 is definitely the best I’ve seen in my time here,” he said.
Dillon was part of Bond’s last finals campaign in 2020 and knows the step-up required for finals footy.
“It sounds clichéd, but we need to win the collision. We know the style of play we want to bring but to do that we need get a solid platform,” he said.
“So, it will be massive opportunity for the boys to perform on that next level.’’
Around the grades
It was heartbreak for Colts One who needed to win to advance to the finals. After leading for much of the game they fell 20-18.
Meanwhile the Premier Women will play in the major semi-final next week against Sunnybank after defeating the Magpies 34-12 in a dominant second-half display.
Outside centre Alex Halloran impressed with some crisp passing and committed defence along with experienced flanker Grace Baker who scored two tries.
A great result for the Bull Sharks sees the two premier teams advance into major semi-finals with the women to battle the Dragons at 10:20am and the men taking on defending premiers the Wests Bulldogs at 3:10pm. Both games will be played at Brothers Rugby Club next Saturday.
Round 18 scores
Colts 2: L 39-0
Third grade: W 31-29
Colts 1: L 20-18
Second grade: L 33-14
First grade: W 38-31
Premier women: W 34-31