Pearce told the playing group Sunday’s clash with Temora would be his last with the soon-to-be father moving to Wollongong.

It took a long time for the Tigers to get going, but Gundagai remain in contact with the top four after a 28-12 win at Nixon Park.

The Tigers trailed for most of the game before finally clicking into gear.

Brett Eccleston scored a double to get the ball rolling for Gundagai as they scored four tries in the last 14 minutes to take the win.

Injured coach James Smart was pleased to see the team respond with plenty at stake.

“We sort of got ourselves together in the last 10 or 15 and did what we wanted to do for the previous 70 minutes or so,” Smart said.

“It was good to get the win as it was a pretty big occasion with Damian Willis’ 100th game (for the club) and Kieran Pearce’s last game for the club for the year so it was good to get the win.”

Smart thought the Tigers started to play more direct late in the game and it paid dividends.

They were able to create space through the middle to take their fourth win of the season.

It was far from an ideal start for Gundagai who lost Blake Dunn in the opening two minutes.

Dunn stepped up to take on the halfback role after Smart broke his hand last week, but picked up a quadriceps issue in the warm up.

James Luff came off the bench and virtually played the whole game in the key playmaker role.

The win sees the Tigers two points, plus percentage, outside of the top four at the midway point of the season.

With the team desperate to stay in the finals race, Smart knew it was a game they couldn’t afford to drop.

“Every win is important for us,” he said.

“We spoke about it at half-time as we are not in a position where we can drop a game and look to the following week – we need to win every week.

“That is the way we have to approach it and is the way we approached the second half.”

Gundagai face another tough test after the general bye with an away game against Cootamundra while Temora take on Southcity.

The bye has come at a good time for the Tigers as they battle plenty of injuries.

Not only is Smart sidelined and Dunn hampered by his quad but Joel Field is still out, Luke Berkrey failed to play out the game while Matt Henery and Dylan Cole are also far from 100 per cent fit.