Tumut takes big step towards minor premiership

Only percentage separated the two teams heading into the clash and in the end a forward pass call to deny Jesse Fitzhenry a try to level things with two minutes remaining was all that separated them after an tough yet entertaining 80 minutes at Twickenham on Sunday.

Tumut never trailed in the clash, after going ahead in the fifth minutes, but struggled to shake their rivals as the two heavyweights slugged it out.

After forcing Blues co-coach Masters into error coming out of trouble, the Bulls had one last crack but couldn't come up with points in a frenetic finish.

Masters was thrilled to hold on to take a 22-18 win as they move two points clear with two rounds before finals.

"We probably let them off the hook with penalties coming out of their end all day but I thought our defence was pretty strong under a fair bit of fatigue on a heavy track," Masters said.

"We kept turning up for one another and that is the main thing."

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Both teams had early opportunities but it was Tumut who took theirs as a break from Mitch Ivill put Josh Webb over in the corner.

Southcity responded as Kyle McCarthy took advantage of a fortuitous ricochet to level things after 14 minutes.

Brayden Draber then capitalised as Southcity made a mistake early on a seven-tackle set to slide over midway through the second half.

It was enough to give the Blues a 10-4 lead at the break before Draber scored minutes into the second half to extend Tumut's advantage.

Just as it looked like Tumut were about to assert their dominance Nathan Rose plucked an intercept and raced 40 metres to score and get his team back within four points with 24 to play.

The Blues responded as Adam Pearce crashed over under the posts eight minutes later before Luke McBeath did the same thing to cut the margin back to four points with seven to play.

It set up a grandstand finish with both teams having good opportunities to come up with a winning play.

While Masters was thrilled to hold on, Southcity coach Nathan Rose was just as pleased with the fight his team showed.

"The game was there to be won for us," Rose said.

"Probably just a couple of little errors at the start were costly and that was the difference in the end."

Tumut are a win clear with games against Albury and Temora to come while Southcity also tackles the Dragons and then Gundagai.