After an indifferent start to the season, Tamworth have put together back-to-back wins to move into fourth place with two rounds remaining before the finals.
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Tamworth followed a 17-0 defeat of ladder leaders St Albert's College - a season-best display for them - by humbling Barbarians 53-10 at Rugby Park on a temperate Saturday afternoon.
Magpies flanker Nick Wiseman was cheered off the field late in the contest after just having crossed for a close-range try.
Magpies coach Peter Burke said Wiseman's performance mirrored the side's: good in "patches".
"It was not an 80-minute effort," he said.
Still, it was Tamworth's third win of the year and moved them to 19 points - four points clear of the fifth-placed Baa Baas.
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Leading 19-0 at half-time, Tamworth found a higher gear after the break to run in five tries to two.
In all, Tamworth posted eight five-pointers.
Magpies centre Blake Clout bagged a try double - including a 40m effort in the 55th minute after he scooped up a loose ball and activated the afterburners.
The exclamation mark came in the 76th minute when replacement fullback Angus Cameron grubbered attacking Barbarians' tryline and won a desperate race to the ball, diving on it just before it went dead.
Magpies prop Harry Mills said the side knew they had "to ramp it up", or their season was over.
It was time, he said, "to put the hard work in".
They just keep getting better.
- Harry Mills
He added: "We were pretty happy with ourselves against Albies - they're obviously a pretty handy team - and we knew we had to recreate it today, so glad we did ... Hopefully we can take it to the top."
Tamworth are benefitting, Mills continued, from younger players adapting to first grade. "They just keep getting better," he added.
Tamworth play away to the Blues next round, before finishing the regular season at home to Robb College.
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