Tallon Smith
After falling to cross-town rivals Southcity last weekend, Wagga Kangaroos bounced back with a 30-16 victory over fellow intra-city opponents Wagga Brothers at Geohex Park on Saturday.
The Roos saw off a spirited challenge from a determined Brothers side with two late tries to Gus Clark and Baidyn Haumaha to secure their second win in the opening three rounds of the season.
The Kangaroos started the faster of the two teams, with winger Matt Murphy and lock Haumaha crossing to open up a 12-0 lead early, before a quick-fire double to Brothers centre Cleve McGhie closed the gap to two points.
That margin was extended to back out to eight heading into the break soon after following an error from Brothers fullback Tyson Williams, which presented Roos five-eighth James Smart with an opportunity to scoop up the ball run in for an easy four-pointer and an 18-10 half time lead.
Brothers struck back on the other side of half time through winger Tamani Aramoana, who combined with centre Malakai Charles before receiving the ball back and racing away to score to put the boys in green and red within two points for a second time.
However, with his side holding a slender 18-16 advantage, Clark grubbered from dummy half and recovered his own kick to score under the posts and put the Kangaroos beyond a converted try in front, with Haumaha scoring a second try late to seal the deal for a 14-point win.
Kangaroos coach Zeik Foster said that while he was happy to emerge with the win, there were a few areas in which he believed his side could have been better on the day against an improved Brothers outfit.
“It was good to score a few points late to seal the win, but obviously I’m a little bit upset with giving away our lead and making it tight just off the back of our own ill-discipline and a couple of poor decisions in defence,” he said.
“They turned up to play, I think this year with the comp being a little bit closer there’s not going to be an easy team at all, so you’ve got to be on your game every week.”
One of the standouts for the Kangaroos through the middle was lock Haumaha, who finished with a try double after two strong efforts close to the line.
Foster said he has been impressed by the performance of the new recruit over the opening weeks of the season.
“Since he landed [after coming] over from New Zealand, he’s trained hard and really fitted in with the group really well,” he said.
“He’s doing a great job for us through the middle.”
Next up for the Kangaroos is a trip to face Temora, which will be looking to bounce back from a 26-22 loss to the Southcity Bulls that also saw it lose possession of the Challenge Cup.
Foster said he is looking forward to the challenge of taking on the Dragons on their home turf, as the Kangaroos hunt two straight wins for the first time this year.
“[It’s] one of the toughest road trips on the calendar but we’re really looking forward to it,” he said.
“We just really want to string back-to-back wins, we’ve gone win-loss-win to start the year, so it would be awesome to string two together.”
Cherrypickers rally to overcome resilient Diesels
The Young Cherrypickers bounced back from their last start loss to Temora after fighting off a late challenge from the Junee Diesels for a 36-26 victory at Alfred Oval on Saturday.
After Young appeared to be in control of the match, three tries in quick succession to Jack Schubert, Tevita Toloi and Jese Wainibuli saw the Diesels take the lead 26-24 with less than 15 minutes to play as they looked to claim a second big scalp after their round one win over defending premiers Gundagai.
The Cherrypickers hit back however with two quick tries of their own, the second to halfback Matt Murray who iced the game off his own grubber kick to seal the 10-point win.
Meanwhile, new signing Jade Anderson impressed in his second game at fullback for the Cherrypickers, crossing for a double to account for two of Young’s seven tries.
Next week will see the Cherrypickers travel to Tumut to face the Blues, while the Diesels will take on Southcity at Harris Park.
