Cover Photo: Tahlia Crane Photography
Tallon Smith
The Albury Thunder caused the boilover of the Group 9 season so far after holding on to defeat ladder leaders Gundagai 24-22 at Greenfield Park on Sunday afternoon.
Just a week after falling to last-placed Wagga Brothers at Geohex Park, the Thunder burst out of the blocks following the break with the opening two tries of the second half, and held off a spirited challenge from the Tigers to hand the defending premiers their second loss of the season so far.
Despite the result coming as a shock to many outside the walls of the Albury club, coach Etu Uaisele said the turnaround from the Brothers match started with conversations among the group at training during the week.
“We just spoke of what happened the week before and I think the boys were really down and they wanted to go out there after last week’s game and actually prove that they can play better than what they did against Brothers,” he said.
“I just feel like the boys beat themselves against Brothers.
“We had a sin-bin and a few errors, but it was mainly the discipline that we talked about.
“We didn’t have a sin-bin this week which was good, and the penalties [were] actually pretty even, so I was happy with that.”
The two sides went into the break locked at 12-all after early tries to Gundagai’s Hayden Ashcroft and Meli Drau were cancelled out by Albury’s Siale Lavulavu and Vili Cerei.
Lachy Munro’s boot then proved the weapon of choice after the break, with a kick for Lavulavu creating a try out wide, before the five-eighth regathered his own grubber to score under the posts and give the home side a 24-22 lead following Nate Broekman’s conversions.
The Tigers came roaring back, with an error in the in-goal from the Thunder gifting a try to front rower Sheldon Diaz, with a second soon after to Drau closing the gap to two with 15 minutes to play.
However, the Thunder managed to withstand a number of late chances for the Tigers to close out the game, something which was a particular source of satisfaction for Uaisele.
“They had a couple of sets on our tryline and the boys kept turning up and turning up,” he said.
“It was probably the best defensive game that I have seen this year.”
The match also saw Albury unveil its fifth halves pairing in 12 games this season, with Riverina star Cerei partnering Country representative Munro in the playmaking roles.
Despite the duo’s preferred positions being in the back three, the versatility of both players and time spent in the positions at training made the choice to move Cerei to halfback to partner Munro a simple one for Uaisele.
“Earlier this year, if we didn’t have a half, I was training Vili [at halfback],” he said.
“Jacob [Tobok] had to work again this week, so he missed out on Sunday, and I knew straight away there’s no one else we can put in there but Vili, and I knew he could play in the halves.
“He has got good skills and good vision, so pairing him up with Lachy was pretty good, because … I have had them training together a few times, and it really worked.”
The Thunder will look to make it two wins in a row when it travels to Cootamundra this Sunday, while Gundagai will host Brothers on Saturday.
