Gundagai ended the unbeaten start to the season of Brothers after wearing down their Wagga rivals at Anzac Park on Sunday.
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The Tigers are yet to taste defeat in 2020 and ensured their return home was a successful one with a 26-18 victory.
Gundagai had plenty of opportunities in the second half but struggled to get their attack to fire.
However James Luff sealed the win with his second try from dummy half with four minutes left to play.
The crafty hooker was relieved to come away with another win.
"It was good to get the win as they were undefeated this year," Luff said.
"To come away with the points was great. It was definitely not the performance we wanted to put in but it showed we can overcome a bit of adversity and got there in the end."
Gundagai struck first blood when Derek Hay stepped his way through the line after two minutes but Brothers were quick to respond as Joe Leggatt beat James Smart to a clever Dylan McLachlan kick five minutes later.
The Tigers looked to be getting well on top after Mat Lyons busted through some flimsy Brothers defence to score a 30-metre run before Luff went over for an easy try from dummy half after 20 minutes.
However a second try from a kick, scored by Cade Price after a Smart error, got Brothers back into the contest eight minutes remaining in the second half.
Gundagai took a 20-12 lead into the half-time break as Luff slotted a penalty goal after the siren before Brothers closed within two points after converting their numerical advantage.
With Troy Barby sin binned for a shot on McLachlan, Jordan Little put James Morgan into space with a nice ball off a scrum following a Tigers error to make it a two-point game with 26 minutes to play.
However with the game on the line neither side could really take advantage with some poor ball control.
Gundagai had the better of the chances to follow but couldn't crack the Brethren until Luff dived over late to end any hope of a comeback.
"I think we were the better side but just came up with a lot of missed opportunities and a lot of silly errors which brought them back into the game," Luff said.
"If we did the right things and got our completions we could have run away with a lot better score."
Brothers drop to third on the Group Nine ladder at the midway point of the season.
Tumut are on top, with a superior points differential from Gundagai, after the premiers took a 30-20 win over Southcity in the grand final rematch
Gundagai are out to continue to unbeaten start to the season when they take on Kangaroos at Equex Centre on Saturday while Brothers are out to regroup when the tackle Young, who are coming off the bye, on Sunday.
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