After earlier kicking four goals from five shots, including a massive sideline conversion, Toppin blew a golden chance to clinch Tumut an outright victory.

With the teams deadlocked, and the siren ready to blare, Toppin failed to get the Blues home by miscuing a relatively simple penalty attempt from 25 metres out and off centre.

The surprise miss was a godsend for Kangaroos – allowing the Wagga team to record their second 28-28 result of the season.

And not for the first time this year Kangaroos captain-coach Ben Jeffery was left to lament the inability of his team to deliver a killer punch.

Livid when Roos squandered a 28-12 lead to draw 28-all with Brothers a fortnight ago, Jeffery was more forgiving when Roos let in two late tries on Sunday.

“We battled our way back into the game,” Jeffery said.

“They’re a top two team for a reason, and I think we’re holding our own with the best teams in the comp.”

Despite the squared result with the highly-regarded Blues, Jeffery was far from satisfied, taking aim at a heavy penalty count from referee Jake White in the second half.

“It was disappointing,” Jeffery said.

“A few calls didn’t go our way.

“An 8-2 penalty count in the second half meant we didn’t touch the ball for 20 minutes.”

For Jeffery, Roos remain a team on the rise.

“We can mix it with the other teams,” he said.

“We beat Albury last week and we’ve had a draw with Tumut.

“The boys are doing really well; digging in really hard.

“As I’ve said, we’ve got some fellas and learning how to play while we’re in front is the thing.

“Once we get better at that we’ll win a lot of those games.”

Down 18-16 following a tense and tough first half, Roos scored the opening two tries of the second half to shoot ahead 28-18.

Significantly, star fullback Tristan Dickson scored a breathtaking try in the 55^th minute to give Roos the momentum, but he suffered a back injury soon after.

On the back foot with penalties and also poor handling, Roos let Tumut off the hook.

Blues halfback Ray Luke showed up Roos with a softish try in the 65^th minute before he gave the last pass for Dean Bristow to bolt over three minutes later.

When Toppin kicked the conversion of Bristow’s try, the game was level, but in the tension-charged final moments he could not boot the winner.

Naturally, Tumut coach Jarrad Teka did not lump Toppin with any undue guilty, rather gave the entire team a backhander.

“In patches we were good, in patches we were bad,” Teka said.

“We had our chances to really assert our authority there, but we were lazy and didn’t get of our line.

”Credit to Wagga they took advantage of when we didn’t do that.”

“It was pretty disappointing.”

Jeffery, Troy Barby and Zac Graham were outstanding for Roos, while Dickson shone every time he touched the ball.

Likewise, Tamati Ioane and Adam Pearce were sensational for Tumut, but James Curgenven was also excellent off the bench.