Albury Thunder simply two good | PICTURES, VIDEO

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ALBURY Thunder recovered from a nervous start to overpower a gallant Gundagai 30-20 in a thrilling grand final in Wagga yesterday.

With the reigning premier playing only its second match since August 25, the Tigers had their more fancied opponents under pressure for the most of the match before class prevailed late.

While the victory was full of heroics, John Hill Medal winner Mitch Davis and fullback Ben Jeffery rose above the pack with scintillating performances at key moments.

Albury took just four minutes to score when second-rower Jake Grace crashed over the line out wide only to see Gundagai hit back almost immediately, through Phil Latu, to give the Tigers a 6-4 lead after eight minutes.

Prop Brett Eccleston followed up at the 12-minute mark and the alarm bells were ringing when the success-starved Gundagai line-up converted through James Smart to race to a 12-4 buffer.

Chris Seaton steadied the ship for Thunder to cut the deficit to 12-8 after 25 minutes before the Tigers hit back again through Ben Reardon after an uncharacteristic error from Thunder hooker Mark Walsham.

At 16-8, it was well and truly game on.

Thunder’s Willie Heta cut the margin to 16-14 after 35 minutes and it looked like Albury had regained its composure after a series of early penalties before another was awarded to Smart on the stroke of half-time — which he missed.

Points were at a premium in the second half but when Jeffery scored a brilliant try out wide in the 43rd minute, Thunder was in front and stayed there.

Walsham followed up minutes later to blow the lead out to 26-16 and Josh Cale’s charges were able to snuff out a series of mini-challenges in the final 20 minutes.

Jeffery admitted Gundagai had applied enormous early pressure and said it took the reigning premier time to settle.

“We had to get over the emotion of it,” he said.

“Once we started completing our sets we were fine.

“To go back-to-back is huge.

“We train hard and soaked it up and got the rewards.”

Jeffery was desperately unlucky to be pipped for man of the match honours by the bullocking Davis, while Chris Seaton, Jake Grace and Heta also turned in strong performances.

Lou Goodwin was frenetic after half-time with several passages of brilliance that only enhanced his reputation as one of the finest players to have played in the competition for years.

Gundagai lost few admirers with Brett Eccleston and Mark Elphick throwing everything at Davis and Goodwin while Latu caused plenty of concern out wide.