Young tough out win over Gundagai to deliver rare prize

The Cherrypickers were forced to play man down after Mick Dodson was sin binned minutes into his stint but still had enough answers to hold Gundagai scoreless in the second half at Alfred Oval on Sunday.

The Tigers had a couple of sets deep on the attack with their numerical advantage but after conceding some easy points in the first half this time around the Cherrypickers had the answers.

Coach Nick Hall was thrilled with the determination showed by his side to take an 18-12 victory.

"It was gutsy to lose one through the middle especially as Gundagai come through the middle pretty well," Hall said. "They created a little bit of second phase and maybe couldn't pull the trigger a bit short on troops."

READ MORE

It was just their second victory over a side in the top four, following on from last year's finals win over Brothers, since 2017.

After losses to both Tumut and Southcity at home so far this season, Hall was thrilled to knock the premiers as the club looks to end a 30-year title drought.

"We'll take that and go to the next step," he said.

"We have to keep building on that."

Young got off to a perfect start as Jayke Hogan scored six minutes into the clash but the two teams went try for try in the first stanza.

Mark Elphick levelled things when he scored adjacent to the posts eight minutes later.

Following a 40-20 kick from Mitch Cornish, Young were able to respond as a big cut out pass from Nick Cornish put Jake Veney over.

Their lead didn't last long after a mistake the following set led to a Dane O'Hehir try.

Gundagai took a 12-10 lead into half-time and looked like they would extend it seven minutes after the break only for Troy Barby to spill a Ryan McQueen pass with the tryline beckoning.

Instead it was Young who turned the clash with quickfire tries to Tyler Cornish and Boro Navori, with a one-on-one steal, who put the Pickers out to front with 25 minutes to play.

It looked like there would be another twist as Dodson was given his marching orders for a high shot on Joel Field but Young's defence wasn't going to be breached again.

Their defence was the most pleasing aspect of the win.

"We've been working on our defence and while I wasn't happy with the two soft tries, so we will have to keep working on that, but I think it was pretty good," Hall said.

"There were some good signs with our attack too, which was pleasing."

Young are looking to extend their winning run up against Kangaroos at Laurie Daley Oval on Sunday while Gundagai will be out to hit back against ladder leaders Southcity.