THE Tumut Blues got back on the winners’ list in emphatic fashion with a commanding 34-16 victory over the Junee Diesels at Twickenham on Saturday.
The Blues played a positive, enthusiastic brand of football from the outset and never really looked like losing their grip on the game.
Halfback Jordan Anderson scored Tumut’s opening try, and this was followed by another from five-eighth Jacob Toppin who went over from dummy-half. Centre Billy Bridgeman added another, and with Toppin’s third straight conversion the score was imposing at 18-0.
Junee got on board with a try to Daniel Foley, but Tumut had the last say in the first half in the form of the first of three tries to winger Ben Hampstead, which was converted by Toppin making the half time score 24-4 to the Blues.
After some clever lead-up play, Hampstead went over for another in the second half, and then more brilliant play where the ball went through many sets of hands resulted in him getting his hat trick.
Junee rallied after this with Ratu Saurara scoring a try, followed by another to James Croyden, both of which were converted by Peter Adam.
A comeback seemed a possibility with the score at 32-16, but Tumut shut down any more scoring opportunities.
Toppin kicked a penalty goal to round off the scoring.
“It was a good win, and I was especially pleased with the first half,” Blues captain-coach Zac Masters said.
“It will give the boys a bit of confidence. After three tough road trips it was good to finally get a win.”
He and his players were upbeat going into the game.
“I knew it was a good chance to get a win, although I thought Junee would be a little bit tougher on the day,” he said.
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However, the result was more of a reflection on how Tumut performed, rather than on Junee.
“We held onto the ball pretty well,” Masters said.
“We had a completion rate of about 85-90 per cent, and that goes a long way to winning a game of footy.”
Tumut had no shortage of good performers on the day.
“Malik Aitken (fullback) found space and Kyle Danilczak our back rower was very good,” Masters said.
“Lewis Arragon was good and so was the team as a whole. Everyone put in a good effort and hopefully well get another win this weekend.
In reserve grade, the Bules almost pulled off a come-from-behind win but Junee hung on to previal 20-16.
The Diesels raced to an early lead, but Tumut hung in there and when Zac Treglown scored to make it 20-16, the Blues declined to take the kick to give them time to get another try. It wasn’t to be however, and the Diesels ran out winners.
The Blues started the day with a 32-12 Under 16 Sullivan Cup win, with Ethan Watts, Jeremy Williams, Linkin Fell and Toby French among the tryscorers. The Blues League Taggers lost 32-20 to Junee, with Ella Lindley, Tatiania Douglas and Courtney Barratt among the tryscorers for Tumut.
