The under 18s side had been on the wrong end of a number of big scorelines, but put in by far their best performance of the competition against Macquarie Wests Tigers at Camden on Sunday.

The Bulls trailed 16-12 before Penieli Faoa scored the only try of the second half.

Their defence was put under plenty of pressure late, but the Bulls held strong to hold on for a 18-16 victory.

Coach Tim Humphries was thrilled with the turnaround.

"They did really good," Humphries.

"It was really nice and rewarding to see the enjoyment on the boys' faces after getting the win and celebrating in the sheds.

"I think the turnaround was holding onto the ball and completing back-to-back sets.

"It helped set them up, enabled them to play a little bit of football and after watching the video and doing the review you could see they got on the edges a lot more.

"They were able to bust through the line and play off the back of that."

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After first half tries to Joe Roddy and Jack Hillier, who were among the teams best, Riverina went behind leading into half-time.

However their response in the second half was very pleasing.

"I think they got a bit of confidence and we got away with the win," Humphries said.

"The back 10 minutes they showed some real courage - I think we held them up over the line about four times.

"There seemed to be a lot more extra commitment in that tackling and their defence on the line.

"I was really proud to see them have a bit of a dig and the results showed at the end."

However it was another near miss for the Laurie Daley Cup outfit.

The under 16s have lost all four of their games but a 12-point loss to Monaro in round one is the biggest margin so far.

Once again the Bulls fell short, slipping to a 24-20 loss at Camden on Sunday.

The Tigers scored the last two tries of the match and then managed to hold off after having a play sent on in the dying stages.

Both teams head to Wollongong this week to finish their campaigns against Illawarra-South Coast on Sunday, along with the men's and women's seniors representative teams.

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