ALBURY Thunder kept arch rival Tumbarumba scoreless for the second time this season by trouncing the Greens 44-0 at Greenfield Park on Sunday.
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After beating their long-time rival 36-0 in round five, Ben Jeffery’s line-up backed it up superbly to strengthen its position in the top five.
Their finals chances were helped by Junee’s 18-0 victory over Temora at Nixon Park.
“The results went our way which was good,” Jeffery said.
“We’re still in there and, if we can sneak one of our last two games after the bye, we should be right.”
Albury, who is a win and point difference ahead of Temora, will bank two points for this weekend’s bye and must defeat either Junee or Gundagai in the final two rounds to be guaranteed finals action.
The Dragons face a danger match against Brothers at Wagga on Saturday, followed by Cootamundra and the bye.
In-form Jon Huggett put Albury on the road to victory by opening the scoring before Izzy Rawhiti, Huggett, Jack Watson and Ziggy Kennedy followed up to grab a commanding 28-0 lead at half-time.
With the lights turned on as the rain tumbled down, Thunder continued to inflict pain on the visitors after half-time with Alex Jones, Jeffery and David Cowhan crossing the line.
“It was a really good effort,” Jeffery said.
“To keep them scoreless after Tumbarumba had a good win last weekend was great.
“We limited their options, made good field position and completed our sets.
“I thought our ball control was good in the conditions.”
Watson, Cowhan and Huggett battered the under-sized Tumbarumba defence with their hard-running while Shannon Rupapere’s goalkicking was first-class in the conditions.
The bye will come in handy for Albury with Jeffery, Joe Silafau and Mitch Seaton battling injuries.
Forward Andrew Cowhan opted to miss the match as he will be unavailable for the rest of the home and away series due to work commitments.
Junee picked up the tempo after half-time to defeat Temora 18-0.
After a scoreless opening 40 minutes, the Diesels wore their opponents down with Peter Little finally breaking the deadlock in the 50th minute.
In-form Brothers crushed Tumut 44-0.
It was an impressive performance by Ben Black’s line-up who could well throw Temora’s season into a tailspin when they clash at Wagga this weekend.
Gundagai belted Cootamundra 84-10 and Young thrashed Kangaroos 44-6.
Southcity had the bye.