Cover Photo: Tahlia Crane Photography

Tallon Smith

Three tries in a 15 minute period during the second half saw the Albury Thunder end Cootamundra’s unbeaten start to the Group 9 season with a 20-14 victory at a soggy Greenfield Park on Sunday afternoon.

A try to Joe Hill bookended by a double to back rower Siale Lavulavu following his move from the wing to the forward pack saw the Thunder take control of the game, with the home side seeing off a late Bulldogs fightback for their second win in three weeks.

It was Albury which opened the scoring after just five minutes when prop Nathan Darby charged on to the ball and beat five Cootamundra defenders to score, before Brendan Kelleher hit back for the Bulldogs 10 minutes later to level the score at 6-all, which it would remain until half time.

However, the Thunder emerged from the break with all the running, and capitalised when back rower Siale Lavulavu broke the line off an innocuous tap restart to give the side a 10-6 lead.

That advantage increased again 12 minutes later when Hill crossed, before Bulldogs fullback Sam Bragg spilled a Jacob Tobok kick, allowing Lavulavu to clean up the scraps and race in to complete his double.

Not about to give in, Cootamundra hit back twice in the final quarter of the match, with Bragg and Harry Boxsell both crossing out wide, but ultimately the Bulldogs ran out of time, with Albury holding on for a six point win.

After an up and down start to the season, Albury coach Etu Uaisele said he was pleased with the way his side responded after their loss to Gundagai in round three.

“[I’m] just happy that the boys turned it around from last week and responded,” he said. 

“That’s what I wanted from them, and it is good to beat a good side like Coota.”

One of the best performed players for the Thunder was Lavulavu, whose shift from the wing into the second row ahead of the clash with the ladder leaders proved somewhat of a coaching masterstroke from Uaisele.

When asked about the reasons behind the positional change, the Thunder mentor said the idea was to get the enforcer more involved on both sides of the ball, with his impact in attack clearly felt.

“He was starting on the wing for us, and I just thought he needed to get involved more in the game,” Uaisele said.

“He’s a big body, so I put him in the second row this week, and he did exactly what I wanted him to do as a second rower.”

Meanwhile, after stepping up from reserve grade to help out the club’s injury-hit spine, five-eighth Aidan Young performed strongly partnering new recruit Tobok in the halves.

The same sense of on-field direction that saw Young captain the Thunder’s reserve grade side to consecutive grand finals in the past two years drew praise from Uaisele, who was impressed with his overall performance.

“I thought he helped the side, just directed everyone around to get to where we needed to get to, and I thought he had a good game,” he said.

“I did speak to him earlier in pre-season, and he has put his hand up and he said if we ever need him he will come up. 

“He was supposed to play last week, but he hurt himself at training, and he got his shot today, and he never looked out of place.”

Another solid contributor over the past three weeks has been front rower Darby, who finished with an aforementioned four-pointer to add to his efforts in the front row.

After missing the first round clash with Wagga Kangaroos, Uaisele said that the Englishman’s leadership has been outstanding both on and off the field following his return.

“He came back [in the] second round and he has been doing what I expect of a leader, he’s one of the captains and one of our senior boys,” he said.

“He’s been very good, not just on the game day, he is a leader at training as well, getting the boys around together, and I’m happy [with] what he has been doing.”

Despite all the positives, there is one area of concern for Albury following the match after the loss of star representative fullback Lachy Munro to a concussion in the first half.

The injury will see Thunder skipper miss next Sunday’s trip to Junee, with Uaisele telling Battlers he has already been ruled out, and will have as long as he needs before returning to the side’s lineup.

“He won’t play, I’m pretty big on the boys’ safety first,” he said. 

“I’d rather make sure he is okay, and he’ll have next week off.”

Looking at other results from round four of Group 9, the Junee Diesels took home the Challenge Cup despite falling to Southcity 22-18 at Harris Park on Sunday.

The side’s 12.5 point start proved the difference in securing the silverware for Junee, but ultimately it was a five tries to three performance that saw the Bulls emerge with the crucial two competition points and a third-straight victory.

Meanwhile, the Tumut Blues were part of their second drawn game in the opening four weeks after finishing in a 28-all stalemate against the Young Cherrypickers at Twickenham Oval.

Following their last start loss to Cootamundra, the winless Blues pushed the highly-fancied Cherrypickers all the way, with fullback Malik Aitken getting a double for the home side, but ultimately the teams had to settle for splitting the points.

Earlier, both Saturday games were blowouts, with Gundagai putting in a strong performance to down Brothers 60-12 at Geohex Park, while Temora put on a show against a depleted Kangaroos team in a 70-4 win at Nixon Park.