Round 8 of the Storelocal Hospital Cup saw the upset of the season take place, with Sunnybank claimed a narrow three-point win over University of Queensland, while Bond upset Brothers, and Wests and GPS secured commanding victories. Let’s see how all four games played out.
Sunnybank have claimed the upset win of the season, claiming a 34-31 win over University of Queensland in Round 8 of the StoreLocal Hospital Cup.
Both sides crossed for five tries a piece, with a penalty from Dragons’ fullback Luke Everson being all that separated the two sides.
Oates brothers Kye ad BJ opened the scoring, with Kye crossing for a try in the sixth minute, before BJ split the Sunnybank defence to score under the posts. Kye converted his brothers’ try to give the Red Heavies an early 12-nil lead.
Alex Niedzwiechi put the dragons on the board in the 18th minute, scoring from a pick-drive-effort close to the line. Everson slotted the conversion to narrow the margin to 12-7.
UQ answered back with Quentin Raravula scoring off the back of a driving maul, before Sunnybank centre Dave Deliuai-Lene crossed for the first of his two tries of the afternnon, off the back of a set-piece move from a Dragons scrum inside the UQ 22m. Everson’s successful conversion narrowed the score to 17-14 in the 27th minute.
Dragons Stalwart Peter Lee was next to score in the 34th minute, before number eight Josh Fenner scored off the back of a team effort to go coast-to-coast, seeing the Dragons take a 26-17 lead into half-time.
The home-side continued their run of form into the second half, with Feliuai-Lene scoring his second try of the match in the opening exchanges, before UQ sparked their come-back with a try to Brad Kuhn in the 46th minute. The conversion from Oates narrowed the score to 31-24.
With the Red Heavies still within a converted try of the Dragons, the home-side opted for a penalty in the 59th minute, which Everson stepped up and converted to give the home-side a 10-point advantage.
Alex Horan crossed for the Red Heavies’ fifth try of the match in the 78th minute of the match, which Oates concerted, to put the reigning premiers within three-points of Sunnybank, but the score remained the same until referee Ben Dorrington-Plumb called an end to the match, seeing the Dragons secure one of their most impressive wins in recent memory.
Wests outscored their northside rivals six tries-to-three to claim a 43-25 win over the Eagles in Round 8, with fullback Cooper Whiteside amassing 18 individual points, slotting five conversions and a penalty whilst also crossing for a try of his own.
Moses Sorovi opened the scoring in the 16th minute of the game. Angleo Smith took a quick tap inside his own half, before offloading to Cal Hope who linked with hooker Ethan Dobbins who offloaded to Ben Navosailagi who gave the final pass to Sorovi who sprinted past the remaining Norths defence to score in the corner.
Fletcher Spicer was next to score, in the 23rd minute, with the conversion from Whiteside putting Wests ahead 12-nil.
Norths loose-forward Will Rogers crossed for Norths’ first points moments later, narrowing the score to 12-5. A penalty for both Whiteside and Norths scrumhalf Connor O’Regan extended the score line to 15-8 before half-time.
O’Regan would slot another penalty to open the scoring in the score-half, before Whiteside crossed for his own try in the 48th minute.
Melbourne Rebels prop Cabous Eloff was next to score in his Hospital Cup debut, taking a short ball of Jono Kent to then carry four Norths defenders with him over the tryline. The conversion fron Whiteside extended Wests lead to 29-11.
Connor Anderson was next to score for Wests, before Asher Milne scored an intercept try for Norths from deep within the Eagles’ half, narrowing the margin to 36-18.
Liam Usher charged over from close to the Norths tryline to take Wests past 40-points, with the conversion from Whiteside seeing Norths claim a 43-18 lead.
Norths had the final say of the game, with Taelyn Nukuku scoring after the 80-minute mark in what was his Premier Grade debut. O’Regan slotted the conversion to leave the final score at 43-25.
Bond University shocked many Queensland Premier Rugby pundits in Round 8, outscoring Brothers four-tries-to-two to claim a 26-16 win over the competition heavyweights.
Bond opened the scoring early in the 7th minute of the match, with hooker Tyrell Kopua scoring off a driving maul. Flyhalf Dan Lancaster slotted to conversion to give the home side a 7-nil lead.
Despite Bond dominating possession and camping themselves inside the Brothers half throughout the first 40 minutes of the match, it wasn’t until the strock of half-time that the Bull Sharks would cross again through winger Max Dowd, giving the home-side a 14-nil lead heading into the break thanks to Lancaster’s conversion.
Brothers clicked into gear in the second half and Callum Hicks crossed for their first try of the match in 45th minute, following a penalty from Tayler Adams, narrowing the margin to 14-8.
Bond struck back minute later with Tyler Campbell fighting his way through a number of defenders to dot down for his first try of the season after a miraculous come-back from injury.
Adams slotted another penalty for Brothers in the 62nd minute, before Marlon Jones crossed for Bond off the back of a break from Abele Atunaisa, extending the home-side’s lead to take Bond’s lead to 26-11.
Billy Bulley crossed for Brothers’ second try in the 68th minute of the match to narrow the margin to 26-16.
Despite two yellow-cards within the final 10 minutes of the match, Bond held on to claim the win.
The Gallopers have continued their impressive start to the season, running in seven tries to claim a commanding 45-19 win over Souths in Round 8.
Scores remained locked between the two sides until the 20th minute of the match, when Tye James dove over in the corner, showing some great acrobatics in the process, to put Souths ahead 5-nil.
From there GPS scored three tries before half-time through Doug Rayment, Tautalatasi Tasi and Jacob Rabai to claim a 21-5 lead heading into the break.
Sam Mata’afa scored from close range in the 47th minute, Lachlan Stewart slotted the conversion to narrow the score to 21-12 early in the second half.
GPS answered straight back with Emosi Tuqiri running a hard line off the ruck to score for the Gallopers in the 51st minute.
Alex Casey and Shaun Anderson both scored for GPS before Souths crossed for their third try through Caleb Brown in the 70th minute.
Reserve hooker Tevita Kaitu’u had the final say of the match, scoring off a rolling maul in the 80th minute for GPS to close out the match 45-19.
