Brothers led by 30-16 shortly after half time before the Bulldogs reeled them in the last five minutes.

A simple goal from by James Smith from in front of the posts proved to be the difference between the two teams, as he converted Matt Forysth’s late try.

Ben Warner got the Bulldogs off to a good start, scoring the first try against his old team, before Brothers put the next three on the board.

Leading 26-16 at half time the Brothers had a winning break just after the interval before the Bulldogs found a bit of bite to get themselves back in the game.

Co-coach Aaron Bryne was happy to come away with the two points, but is looking to build the team’s defence.

Cootamundra has conceded more than 36 points in its first two games of the season and its an area that needs a lot of improvement.

“It was a bit too close for comfort,” Byrne said.

“Our defence needs a lot of work.

“It’s nice to win but when you concede 36 points it shows what needs to be focused on.”

Byrne said the team was beaten to the punch in every aspect of the game in the first half and thought Brothers were the better side for most of the day.

“It wasn’t real pretty but it is still two points at the end of the day,” he said.