It almost slipped away, but Kangaroos held on to bring up their first win of the season at Laurie Daley Oval on Sunday.
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The Kangroos were flying when Dylan McLachlan scored to start the season half to take to score to 28-6 before a dramatic collapse.
The Diesels scored the last four tries of the game, but couldn’t find the match winner as the Wagga club went home 28-26 victors.
‘Roos started to come unstuck when captain-coach Ben Jeffery came off with a calf injury, and the former NRL player thought they were lucky to come away with the two points in the end.
“We made it pretty hard for ourselves in the end,” Jeffery said. “We were up 28-6 and I think a few things we did changed the momentum, they got all the momentum, started playing well and I think we were lucky to come away with the win.
“Another five or 10 minutes and I think they would have got us.”
Jeffery thought poor kicking in the second half game the Diesels plenty of territory and it almost cost them.
However, he was pleased by the brand of football they showed in the first half.
“The first 20 minutes were really encouraging, I thought we were great,” Jeffery said.
“I think we can play that sort of footy will be compete quite well but it was to be for 80 minutes.”
A major concern is Jeffery’s calf and he is far from confident he’ll be fit to tackle Tumbarumba at Equex Centre on Saturday.