Wagga Kangaroos pip Albury Thunder 24-18 with two late triesi

In a crackerjack game between two desperate teams battling for the only likely remaining spot in finals, Kangaroos scored two tries in the final 12 minutes - and then survived a barrage of attack in the last seconds - to win 24-18.

"While it wasn't pretty, it was gutsy," visiting coach Simon Woolford admitted.

Woolford, who played 262 NRL gamnes with Canberra and St George Illawarra, as well as coaching Huddersfield in the Super League until last year, had two players off injured early.

"We've made it hard for ourselves all year and today (Sunday) was no different, we did lose a couple of troops in Ned (Cooper) our centre and Chris (Maher) our back-rower within the first 20 minutes, but the positive side was the effort of the 15 men we had left," he said.

Former Thunder forward Luke Ingram came back to haunt some former team-mates when he crashed over at the 28-minute mark of the second half to level the scores at 18-all.

Three minutes later, a wobbly kick proved crucial.

Thunder winger Curtly Jenkinson elected to pick the bouncing ball up, rather than stop it with his foot, but he knocked it on and in the next set of six dangerous fullback Jacob Mascini wriggled out of a tackle and threw a basketball-type pass to James Strickland for the match-winner.

However, the Thunder refused to buckle.

Lightweight winger Luke Olsson appeared to slam the ball down with only three minutes left, but referee Scott Muir immediately ruled he was held up.

His nearby team-mates were adamant he had scored, along with the bumper Thunder crowd.

Workhorse Jon Huggett then almost carried four players across the line and with 40 seconds left, the rugged back-rower popped a pass to Ty Fletcher with his pass just touching Olsson's outstretched fingertips.

It was a rollicking game with both outfits deserving tremendous praise.

"Again it showed just how much we've improved as a team, the resilience we showed in that first 10 minutes there, they threw a lot at us but good football teams slowly get that momentum back and it was just unfortunate a few errors and some inexperience out there (cost us)," sidelined coach Adrian Purtell explained.

Huggett was again exceptional, but it was the batch of youngsters - strongly built back-rower Zain Mitchell-Dowding, solid five-eighth Mason Fuller and Co - who have officials and fans excited about the club's future.

In keeping with the tense and frenetic nature of the game, the game was stopped in the first half when Roos' Ritchie Herangi was forced off.

"I just took a whack and my pacemaker started shocking my body, I just had to have a rest and go back on," he revealed.

Herangi has had three heart attacks, a stroke last September and blood clots.

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It was that sort of day.

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