An astonishing late rally from Brothers came up just short as Sydney’s Shute Shield winners Easts claimed the Australian Club Championship.
The Tricolours looked like they were cruising to the Bernard Power Challenge Trophy at 28-0 just into the second half at Brisbane’s Crosby Park on Saturday.
Queensland's StoreLocal Hospital Cup champions belatedly found their mojo for the Brothers faithful and rattled on four unanswered tries to close the gap to 28-26 with minutes to play.
Speedster Will Cartwright got the fightback started on 52-minutes when he dashed over off a fine Ben Dallecort offload.
Front-rower Theo Fourie, replacement halfback Oscar Varricchio and replacement flyhalf Jude Gibbs kept the roll going with further tries.
The Brethren earned a scrum penalty on halfway on full-time yet didn’t have the power boot to consider a shot at three points for the win.
The kick to touch and a lost lineout meant the late challenge fizzled and the quickened heart rates in the noisy crowd of 4500 could settle.
Easts skipper Josh Bokser and his team could celebrate just how far the club has come by winning the annual trophy contested between the Sydney and Brisbane premiers.
Brothers skipper Will Wilson was flat that his side couldn’t repeat their 2024 success but celebrated the bigger picture.
“What a cracking afternoon of club footy with a big crowd in at Brothers,” Wilson said.
“Credit to Easts. They were better and we couldn’t chase them down at the end.”
Wilson saluted the noisiest, most fuelled corner of his home ground when saying “The Butchery” fans had helped ignite his side.
“The Butchery is something else. That’s why we always love running back to our supporters in the second half because we get a huge lift like we did today,” Wilson said.
Young Easts centre Otto Serfontein, a standout in Colts last year, scooted over for the try that opened the second half and a seemingly impregnable 28-0 lead.
That came on top of the three close-to-the-line tries taken well in the opening half by the visitors.
Easts coach Ben Batger said his players had celebrated heartily after adding to the club’s achievements as club champions, minor premiers and Shute Shield winners in Sydney last year.
“It’s a really good moment for the club. It puts a bow on those successes in Sydney,” Batger said.
“The morning after, it’s fair to say we have a few soldiers down. That was one to enjoy.
“We only had four players backing up from our grand final side in this starting team. A young guy like Otto really stepped up as did Jack Tougher Wells in the forwards. He’s come up from seconds and third grade.
“The toughness and resilience we showed to hold out Brothers is something we can take into the new season.”
Full credit to Brothers Rugby Club for hosting such a celebration of club rugby and doing the heavy lifting in every area to do so a week after a cyclone delay.
The women’s duel for the Sukkar Cup produced a crazy finale.
The Australian Club Championship was shared with the 19-all result between Bond University and Sydney University.
The match finished in baffling circumstances with Bond twice electing to bypass shots at penalty goal that could have grabbed the victory.
Instead, they opted to go for the try. Twice they were held up over the tryline in the tense final stages.
At the death, centre Mel Wilks surged at the line and was pulled down just short. Sydney Uni defenders held up the ensuing pick-and-go to save their day.
It was a marvellous contest with Bond not hitting the front until the second half at 14-12 when halfback Evie Sampson dashed over off a Wilks’ pop pass.
Winger Charlize Ratu produced an eye-popping 80m run to push the lead to 19-12 after Wilks had found her on the edge with a long pass in the Bond quarter.
A tying score from Sydney Uni pushed the match into a thrilling finish.
