After a tense battle, the Eden Tigers have finished 10 points shy of the Bombala Blue Heelers over the weekend.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Blue Heelers looked strong from the outset with tries to centre Reagan Hurley and winger Bryson Phillps establishing a 10-0 lead in the opening 10 minutes of play.
The Tigers had to wait until after the drinks break when Matt Evelyn paved a way over the chalk for the Tigers and Harrison Baker cleared the bar with a neat conversion to trail 10-6.
However, the Blue Heelers continued to press the attack and second rowers Andrew Anderson and Murray Jackson posted tries before the break to lead 20-6.
A Justin Bamblett try six minutes into the second gave the Tigers some legs for a come back, trailing 12-20.
However, with 20 minutes left in the piece Blake Robinson scored then Anderson claimed his second soon after to lead 28-12.
Eden winger Solomon Kaitane revived some hope late in play with a neat try and when Evelyn found his second with just seven on the clock the result was undecided. Both tries converted by Baker the Tigers found themselves just four points in arrears.
Unfortunately, the Blue Heelers came up with a late option with just four minutes left for Blake Robinson to score and convert his own try to set up the 34-24 lead.
Earlier, the league-tag had been largely dominated by the Blue Heelers who were able to crack Eden's defensive line a number of times on their way to a 30-0 result at George Brown Memorial Oval on Sunday.
In other matches over the weekend only Cooma and Bega have been able to defend their undefeated runs early in the season.
The Stallions ended Merimbula-Pambula's strong early run with a 34-20 result at the Pambula Sporting Complex on Sunday.
Cooma's two flanking wingers proved to be trouble for the Bulldogs, who had looked dominant early in the piece on Sunday.
Merimbula-Pambula forward Grant Moon had secured the first points of the clash after busting through a tackle to run 30 metres to the try line and set up a 4-0 lead.
The second try for the Bulldogs came before the drinks break after pushing up the left edge.
Cooma's line defence looked solid, but the Bulldogs broke from the wing back to the right and a superb cut-out pass drew defenders to Corey Schafer, but the ball sailed past him to the waiting arms of Jack Maguire who made no mistake to cut a line straight under the posts.
A successful conversion had the hosts up 10-0 before the Stallions found their first try.
After a penalty kick put the Dogs up 12-4, the Stallions began finding their strides to trail 12-10 at the break and then cruising to a lead.
Eden play host to Moruya on Sunday.