Back from a stint in the UK and Ireland, former Aussie 7s gun and Sunnybank flyhalf Liam McNamara scored two tries in the opening 10 minutes of his return to the Hospital Cup last Saturday. 

The Dragons then held on to beat Bond, last year’s minor premiers, on the Gold Coast to start their season with a bang. 

“I was pretty lucky with the tries to be honest,” McNamara told Rugby News. 

“I was supporting the boys who were doing the hard yards and was probably just in the right place at the right time. 

“But I was really happy for the boys after all the hard work they’ve put in over summer to see such a good performance in round one.”

Sunnybank scored three unanswered tries in the opening 30 minutes on the Gold Coast but let Bond back into the match following a yellow card. 

Bond scored on either side of the half time break, then levelled the scores with a penalty goal with 15 minutes remaining. 

But in a match Sunnybank probably would have lost last season, the Dragons composed themselves and caused a turnover from the restart. 

McNamara, who struggled from the kicking tee early in the match, then kicked a penalty goal to give Sunnybank the lead and an important opening round win. 

“It was a great way to start the year,” the flyhalf said. 

“After last year, our main focus has been on rebuilding and getting back to those winning ways and for me, coming back in to the group, you can really tell that the players and the coaches have been working really hard over the preseason and deserved the result.”

27-year old McNamara returned to Australia earlier this year for family reasons. 

After spending four seasons with the Australian Sevens program, the Brisbane-born, Irish heritage playmaker moved to Scotland in 2021 to play with Ayrshire Bulls, then earned a call up to the Irish Sevens program. 

“It was a great experience to play both Sevens and XVs over there. I got to live a very different life off the field to what I was used to and on the field, it was interesting to be coached by different coaches who play a different style of rugby.”

McNamara was signed by Irish club Connacht in April last year but returned to Brisbane and is looking to make the most of his time back in Australia. 

“At the moment I’m just enjoying being home around family and friends and I’m really enjoying my time with Sunnybank,” he said. 

“If more opportunities pop up down the track, then I’d certainly consider it but for now my full focus is with Sunnybank. 

“It’s always been my club, I played juniors here and have always loved the place. I’ve seen the club during the successful years and even though I wasn’t a part of those sides, I saw how the whole club and community lifted and it’s something I want to experience properly. 

“To start, we want to get back to our winning ways, then we’ll look to become more like the Sunnybank of old.”

Next, McNamara and Sunnybank return home to face a Wests side who ran in six tries against UQ in an impressive 43-17 win. 

“For us it’s just about consistency. We’ve produced a good performance in round one so now we’ve got to learn from what we did well and what we didn’t do so well and build on that so we can play good consistent rugby week in, week out.”

In other round two matches, Easts face Brothers, UQ host Norths and Souths take on Jeeps.