By Tallon Smith

The Gundagai Tigers have bounced back from their Round 9 loss to South City to record a 28-16 win over the Albury Thunder at ANZAC Park on Saturday afternoon.

In a match where fullback Tyron Gorman starred for the home side, the Tigers recovered from a six point halftime deficit to win the second half 18-0 and set up the victory.

Tigers Co-Coach Derek Hay said that his side’s completion rate was key to their victory in the all-important clash.

“What probably stood out for me on the weekend was that we finally got our completion rates up, I think we were up around that 80 percent mark, we wouldn’t have been above 60 percent in any other game this year,” he said.

“So we had to do a lot less tackling and that showed in the end, we could have turned our tails up after half time, after we were down 16-10 and Wilson Hamblin got sent to the sin bin, but the boys grit their teeth and we were able to actually score two tries in that period, so that turned the game.

“It was definitely our defence that won it for us, we won the second half 18 points to nil, so from a coach’s perspective, that’s really pleasing.”

Meanwhile in other games across the competition, Wagga Kangaroos made it two from two in Grand Final rematches against the Tumut Blues with a 34-4 win at Twickenham.

Halfback James Smart starred with a try and five goals to spearhead the ‘Roos charge to victory.

In the Match of the Round, the Young Cherrypickers gained a crucial away victory over the South City Bulls 30-24 at Harris Park.

In a match where both teams scored five tries, the goal kicking proved the difference, with Tom Demeio slotting 5/6 compared to Kyle McCarthy’s 2/5.

Finally, in a local derby, Temora also picked up two competition points with a 32-14 home victory over Junee.

The win sees last year’s Minor Premiers maintain second position on 16 competition points, half a game behind Young.

Round 11 action this coming weekend is headlined by a local derby between Kangaroos and Brothers at Wagga’s McDonald’s Park, while in other games, Tumut hosts Temora, Young tackle Junee, and Albury host South City in the club’s Indigenous Round game at Greenfield Park.