By Adam Sheldon

Easts have made a loud statement to the rest of the Hospital Cup, claiming a 35 points to 17 victory over Brothers, in what was billed as a heavyweight clash between the two unbeaten sides in the competition, and didn’t disappoint.

With both team’s early season form extremely promising, Easts flexed their muscles to finish with a comprehensive victory, to not only keep their perfect record intact, but also reinforce the Tigers’ position as a genuine premiership contender in 2025.

Easts captain and scrum-half Eli Pilz, in a typically understated tone, told Rugby News he was pretty happy with the win over the two-time reigning premiers. 

“It was a good win for us,” Pilz said.

“The crowd were great and the boys played well. We’re pretty happy with how it all went, especially considering the strength of Brothers. They’re always a tough side.” 

Asked about the significance of the win, over what has been the benchmark side in the Hospital Cup over the last two seasons, Pilz said it was still early days this season.

 “It’s important to put a marker down, and I think the boys responded to the challenge really well,” he said. 

“It’s a confidence booster, no doubt, but we’re not getting ahead of ourselves. We’ve got to keep building.”

Pilz, who starred again scoring a try and landing five conversations from as many attempts, said Will Sankey (4), new recruit Nuku Swerling (8) and Lachlan Kirk (10) had massive games. 

“Big Will Sankey has been massive the last month, he scored an intercept try and ran 50 metres to score – if you ask him it will be 80 metres,” Pilz said.

“Nuku Swerling just keeps impressing. He’s a cheat code when you can tell him to take off from the back of the scrum and carry five blokes over with him to the try line.

“The other one is Lachy Kirk. He’s been around for a long time, but finally getting probably the shot he deserves, with a full preseason behind his belt. He’s been steering the ship unbelievably well.” 

While Pilz said Easts head coach Simon Craig was pleased with the result, he thought the side still hadn’t played at their best this season. 

“We’re still aiming for that complete 80-minute performance,” he said.

 “We’ve had snippets here and there, but we need to bring it all together week after week if we want to go all the way.”

Elsewhere in the competition, Wests destroyed GPS as home, 53 points to five, while Bond also had a big win as it thrashed Sunnybank at home, 52 points to 20. In the league’s surprise result of the weekend, UQ, who have been struggling this season, overcame an impressive Souths side, 21 points to 15 at home. 

Pilz said UQ’s win was this week’s trademark underdog victory, which was becoming a theme for the 2025 Hospital Cup season. 

“In the sheds after the game, everyone is asking the question ‘what were the results of the other games?’,” he said. 

“Each week there has been at least one upset, usually two. It just proves the strength of the comp this year. There are no easy beats anymore, which is healthy and nice, but it’s also probably a good thing for us to keep us honest.”

Norths had the bye.