Tumut put in their best performance of the season, but it could be their most costly one as well.
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The premiers remain unbeaten after a 40-12 win over Young at Twickenham on Sunday however picked up a number of injury concerns.
The Blues produced by far their most complete first half performance, jumping out to a 28-6 lead, but injuries didn't help sustain their start with co-coaches Dean and Lachlan Bristow both failing to play out the game.
Dean (neck) is the bigger concern with Lachlan dominating at hooker before sustaining an ankle injury.
However Lachlan Bristow was impressed with how well the team started as they made big inroads through the middle of the Cherrypickers.
"We worked on a few things at training and just came out and executed them so well," Bristow said.
"We were looking awesome before unfortunately injuries took a toll and we had to grind out a tough win."
With both Bristows down it forced a major reshuffle for the Blues however it didn't hurt their defensive continuity.
It was one of the more pleasing things.
"We pretty much played with 13 or 14 players so to hold them to 12 points is unbelievable," Bristow said.
"It's a massive rap for our boys as it has been a tough one."
Bristow had a field day at dummy half, taking advantage of some lazy defence from Young.
He made a big break in the opening minute of the clash, which helped set up an early try to Jordan Anderson, before scoring himself after 10 minutes.
He then made another break to set up a try for his older brother before Michael Fenn crossed to make it 22-0.
Even with the star hooker off with his ankle problem, Jacob Toppin found room behind the ruck to send Zac Masters over after 25 minutes and the Blues out to a 28-0 lead.
Young took advantage of some rare possession, with Mick Picker scoring after Nic Hall plucked a Jacob Lucas kick out of the air, but it was a rare highlight for Young.
Toppin, who was playing his 100th first grade game, and Thomas Jenkins were sin binned in quick succession as both teams struggled to get out of an arm wrestle in the second half.
However Parish Bellette sparked something for the Blues as he regathered his own rebounding kick.
After four years out of the game, his involvement covering Dean Bristow was another highlight before Toppin capped off his milestone game with another try of his own.
After a less than convincing win over Kangaroos last week, Lachlan Bristow was thrilled with how the team responded.
"We sorta forgot about last week and didn't touch too much on it at training," he said.
"We wanted to start again and build and we've done that perfectly."
Tumut also finished the game without forward Matt Byatt (shoulder) and Bristow is hoping their injury problems won't be too serious with a grand final rematch with Southcity looming on Sunday.
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