Young holds strong late to secure victory and keep Brothers winless

The Cherrypickers led 14-4 after speedster James Schiller scored his second try early in the second half but had to hold off a late Brothers rally to get onto the board at Equex Centre on Sunday.

Brothers captain-coach Peter Little crossed with for his second to keep his side in the hunt before Dylan McLachlan crossed with 10 to go.

Despite having a numerical advantage late Brothers couldn't find the winner when the Pickers were forced to defend the last few minutes right on their line a man down after Warren Aiken was sent to the sin bin.

However Young managed to hold the Wagga side at bay after a big play from the front rower to score a 18-14 win.

Coach Roy Jewitt was thrilled to come away with the two points after the slow start to the season.

"The last couple of minutes I was nervous I tell you," Jewitt said.

The Englishman was pleased with the first half performance but he's still looking to his side to deliver a killer blow.

They've started slowly in their two losses to start the season before firing back into contest and ultimately falling short.

While that certainly wasn't the problem this time around another lapse could have proved costly.

"We started very well and in the first half we played some good footy even though we are still struggling a bit with the ball," Jewitt said.

"We didn't complete as many sets as we would have liked but our defence was pretty tough and we defended well.

"In the second half there was a lot of penalties in the game, a lot of errors and we let them back in but luckily we just held on."

It wasn't just the big play late where Lealaitafea impressed.

He was among the 'Pickers best alongside Blake Hewitt who returned from injury at hooker to replace the unavailable Sam Langford.

Young had four changes from their tight loss to Gundagai and Jewitt was impressed with how the makeshift side responded.

As for Brothers, who were without the likes of Cade Price, Brayden Sharrock and Pat Sagigi, the narrow loss extends their poor start to the season.

Last year's preliminary finalists have lost all three of their games so far, two in tight tussles, and Little is still chasing a maiden win as coach of the club.

They will be desperate to turn things around in the derby clash with Kangaroos next Sunday.

Meanwhile the Cherrypickers will be out to make it two wins on the trot when they host Temora.

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