Albury had conceded 162 points in their first two games of the year but came through a thriller against Ag College at Murrayfield on Saturday.
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The two teams went virtually try-for-try, but some resolute defending from the Steamers at the death was enough for a 33-29 win.
Coach Paul Musarra was pleased to get off the mark.
“The guys defended a lot better today and scored a couple of good tries,” Musarra said. “We were lucky to get anyway with it, we really probably didn’t deserve it with around a three to one penalty count against us with a lot of ill discipline, but we defended really well.”
Josh Gemmell scored the winning try after a rolling maul from a line out with about five minutes to play.
Sam Allen was a standout at five-eighth.
Better known as an outside back, Musarra has been impressed with Allen’s contribution in the playmaker’s role.
“He gives us great variability at 10 and puts a lot of doubt in the defence,” he said.
“He is a great ball runner and it just frees up Dev (James Devlin) to play fullback.
“I don’t know what we are going to stick with through the year but I think we will be sticking with him at 10 for a while.”
Dave Cooper-Dunn was also strong in the forwards and played his best game since returning to the club.