Albury-Wodonga Steamers struggle without Victorian players in tough conditions at Tumut

The Border side could only muster 16 players as the Victorian lockdown cut the club in half and prevented anyone who lives south of the border from travelling.

To rub salt into the wound, the game was transferred from Jarrah Oval to Twickenham Oval, which Steamers' coach James Kora described "unfit" to play on.

"It was very challenging to get a team together when we could only take our NSW-based players up to Tumut," he said.

"We only took 16 players up there, so we only had one reserve.

"We were pretty much missing another entire team and we had to obviously forfeit the second grade.

"It (the field) was underwater, there was mud. It was a pretty bad day in difficult conditions.

"It was just little things that let us down. We dropped the ball at the wrong time and the conditions didn't really help us because the ball was waterlogged and it was hard to kick it or pass it around.

"The score didn't really reflect them game because we competed with them quite well, but there was a lapse and they'd cross the line.

"We were in good positions and couldn't quite get over the line, but they'd go down the other end and score."

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Kora paid tribute to his side for the way it continued to fight to the end.

"The boys played with a lot of passion and pride and gave it their all, we just couldn't hold onto the ball long enough to capatalise," he said.

"We really couldn't pick out any standout players because they all put in a good shift under those circumstances.

"It's pretty funny because if you go in with a full squad you come out with 100 injuries, but you take a bare squad and you come away unscathed."

The bonus-point win for Tumut moves them within three points of the fourth-placed Steamers for a position in the finals.

The Steamers are set to face Waratahs and Wagga Ag College in the next fortnight, before a game for double points against Wagga City.

"We'll have to find out what the government says next week, but we might have just blown ourselves out of finals contention," Kora admitted.

"If the government keeps locking us down, I don't think we can keep going the way we are because we need our Victorian-based players to be able to compete."

City continued to lead the way after a 96-0 drubbing of Ag College.

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