Sydney Uni beat Bondi 34-24 at the St George Hockey Centre on Saturday afternoon to end the Raiders' playoff hopes and win the first game played between the teams for the Foundation Shovel.

At the suggestion of the head coaches, Paul Manera of Bondi and Stephen Dunne of Sydney Uni, the clubs commissioned the Foundation Shovel as a trophy to symbolise the role played by the teams as the last remaining foundation teams of the league - "digging the foundations together"- and to heighten the rivalry on gameday - "burying the opponent".  The inscription reads "The Foundation Shovel - To be held by the victors after each game played between the last remaining foundation clubs of Gridiron NSW".  The Shovel was brought out to the coin toss on behalf of the holders, Sydney Uni, by its most-capped active player for the game, Anthony Sinton, who was playing his 149th game for the club.  

The first game for the Foundation Shovel was played the day after the 25th Anniversary Dinner of Gridiron NSW and the occasion seemed to inspire the Raiders.  Bondi had plenty to play for besides a victory in the rivalry game, as they had to win to make the playoffs, and they took advantage of a series of mistakes by the Lions in the second quarter to take a 12-7 lead.   After driving methodically to score on their first possession with a 5 yard pass to Mathew Freeman on 4th down, the Lions then undid all that good work by coughing up a fumble on their own 16 yard line on their next possession.  The Raiders seized on the opportunity, running in for a touchdown on the first play of the drive.  The point after try was blocked to keep Sydney Uni ahead 7-6, but that quickly changed when the Raiders sent the Lions three and out on their next drive and then recovered a blocked punt in the endzone for a touchdown.  Mark Mamo intercepted the 2 point pass attempt, but the Raiders had snatched a 12-7 lead. 

The windy conditions were making life difficult for the quarterbacks and Dan Kelen continued the string of errors by throwing an interception early in the next drive to give the Raiders good field position on the Lions' 31 yard line.  This time the Lions' defence made a stand, cornerback David Bourke holding a third down interception in the endzone for a touchback. 

The Lions showed how to move the ball into the wind on the next drive, mixing high percentage completions to Mac Shine and Mathew Freeman with power running from the backfield of Liam Erby and Matthew Croasdaile.  Croasdaile ripped off a 22 yard run to get the Lions close and then finished off the drive with a touchdown from 2 yards out.  On the day, Croasdaile would shred the Raiders' defence with runs of 22, 32, 20 and 28 yards on his way to 261 rushing yards - the third highest total in Lions history.  However, he was held out on the 2 point run attempt for the Lions to go into half-time with a slender 13-12 lead. 

The Lions had the ball to start the second half and, as in the first, drove the length of the field  on their opening possession to score on a 2 yard Croasdaile run.  Croasdaile had his longest run of the game on this drive - 32 yards - and all but 1 of the 75 yards made on the drive were made on the ground.  Freeman kicked the PAT for a 20-12 lead.  But, again, as in the first half, the Lions then opened the door for the Raiders, fumbling the ball away on their own 13 yard line.  It took 6 plays and a conversion on 4th and 4, but the Raiders put the ball in the endzone to close the gap to 20-18.  Joe Lim stuffed the 2 point run attempt to keep the Lions ahead. 

The Lions hit back hard, going 65 yards for a touchdown in only 5 plays, the key gainers being a 31 yard pass to Freeman and a 20 yard rush to Croasdaile.  Croasdaile scored from 8 yards out and Freeman added the PAT to stretch the lead to 27-18.  

After an exchange of turnovers and the game now into the 4th quarter, the Raiders gambled at mid-field but the 4th and 8 pass fell incomplete.  The Lions took only 3 plays to score.  Tristan Cauhepe held a 13 yard pass before Croasdaile motored into the endzone from 28 yards to give the Lions a 16 point buffer at 34-18.  However, the Raiders took only 3 plays to answer back, a short out pattern being turned into a 48 yard touchdown up the Raiders' sideline as several Lions' defenders were left grasping at air.  The buffer was now back to 10 points at 34-24 after Joe Lim broke up the 2 point pass attempt. 

And that was enough.  Kiernan Dorney killed off the game with an interception near the goalline - the 5th interception taken by the Lions' secondary in the game - and Dan Kelen knelt the ball down for the Lions to win the game and claim the Foundation Shovel.  

The result secured an undefeated regular season for the Lions and pitches them into a playoff against the Sutherland Seahawks next weekend for a place in the Waratah Bowl and a shot at "Six of the Best".