ALBURY Thunder coach Tuki Jackson is refusing to panic in the wake of his team’s 40-22 loss to Gundagai at Greenfield Park.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
After opening the scoring through Etu Uaisele in the fourth minute, Thunder were blown off the park with the Tigers running in the next seven tries.
The loss was compounded by Andrew Smith being sent-off in the 77th minute.
Jackson admitted this weekend’s bye was a blessing as it would give his team time to regroup.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Jackson said.
“We will regroup and work on things we need to improve.
“It’s a long season ahead.”
Thunder, who went into the match without barnstorming forward Jon Huggett due to illness, looked set to threaten Gundagai when Uaisele scored on the back of some good play from Levi Freeman.
But Joe Silafau’s sinbinning in the 13th minute sparked a pointscoring blitz.
Fullback Dane O’Hehir was in everything with the Riverina representative having three tries of his own at half-time as Gundagai led 34-6 at the break.
Luke Berkrey pushed the lead to 40-6 in the 43rd minute and Thunder appeared to be heading towards their biggest loss at the ground in years.
But Silafau, Mac Daly and Freeman crossed the line late to avoid a complete disaster for the down on confidence home team.
Jackson was at a loss to explain the first-half.
“We started off good, then dropped off and allowed them to score too easily,” he said..
“The second half we were better team. We played a lot better and it just comes down to passion.”
A brawl erupted in the 77th minute with Smith sent-off and David Cowhan and Chris Rose sinbinned.
Cowhan, Silafau and Freeman were honest performers for Thunder while O’Hehir was outstanding for the victors.
“It was similar to last week in that we had an awesome half, but then the second-half was a bit scrappy,” O’Hehir said.
“Tumut is a big rival of ours and hopefully we get a big crowd against them in a fortnight.”
Thunder stayed in the top five on the back of Kangaroos suffering a surprise 28-26 loss to wooden spooner Cootamundra.
The loss left coach Ben Jeffery fuming with his side blowing another winning chance.
Junee were belted 42-6 by Brothers.
Temora edged out Tumbarumba 26-20 and reigning premier Southcity won a thriller against Tumut 28-26.
The ladder is:
Southcity 14, Gundagai 14, Tumut 13, Young 12, Albury Thunder 10, Kangaroos 8, Junee 8, Temora 6, Brothers 5, Tumbarumba 3, Cootamundra 3.
