By LIZ MOORE

He’s only 19, but reserve flyhalf Spencer Jeans is making an impact on and off the field at Bond.

Coming off the bench in the last 15 minutes at the Canal on the weekend, Jeans scored the fourth try of the game for the Bullsharks, thereby securing them a bonus point in a strong 32-22 win against an in-form Easts side.   

It also won the Bunter Bowl back for Bond after losing it to Sunnybank in the last game of 2019.

“We were very, very happy with the win,” Jeans said. “We were pretty adamant on challenging for the Bunter Bowl. You know, it’s a good piece of silverware to have and to win it over Easts is a pretty big goal for us. We were pretty happy with the outcome.”

It was the third win of the season for Bond, but Jeans is not getting ahead of himself. 

“I guess we can’t look at the big picture without getting the jobs done in between. So for now all our focus on is on this weekend, obviously trying to go up to Chipsy Wood and beat Souths is our next goal. Then tick that off and move on from there and we’ll reassess each week,” he said.

With a mature head on 19-year-old shoulders, Jeans is making the most of the opportunities afforded him by being awarded the John Eales Rugby Excellence Scholarship this year. 

“It keeps me busy in between training,” Jeans said of his bachelor of business studies at Bond. “I guess it can’t all be about training and rugby, so it gets my mind away from the rugby field sometimes, and let’s me focus on some study.”

It’s not the first scholarship Jeans has won. He was also one of two players awarded the Rugby Union Players’ Association’s Australian Schoolboys Scholarships in 2018. 

And while the Australian Under 18s representative had his hopes on playing for Australia in the Junior World Cup this year, Jeans wasted no time pondering what might have been.

“I guess that put a hold on that goal, but there’s a lot of people that have had it worse off than me. And in the same sense, I hurt myself and had about 12 weeks of rehab,” Jeans said of a stress reaction in his back. 

“In that 12 weeks, we weren’t playing any rugby, whereas I could have missed the whole season anyway, so that was a bit of a blessing in disguise.”

Jeans said he is fully fit again and is enjoying playing a full game for Bond Colts before taking his place on the bench for Premier grade, where he has run on in the last three matches.

“We’re all getting very close across the grades and Colts. We’re a pretty tight-knit club and I guess that kind of shows on the field as well,” he said.

“We’ve got a third grade team down here. We’ve got a women’s team now, so we’re really starting to evolve as a club. We’re getting more and more spectators each week. 

“I’m excited to see where the club can go in the next few years.”