New England Rugby: St Albert's stretch unbeaten start to five games with 24-19 win over Tamworth

Showing they are a better side than they have shown the last couple of weeks, the Magpies ensured a big Ladies Day crowd were treated to a competitive contest.

But the students were just that class above, and able to hit straight back whenever the home side got points to prevail 24-9 and make it two-from-two against them this season.

Kept scoreless in their first meeting, which they incidentally won 24-nil, until the final minutes of the first half, on Saturday Albies struck in the 12^th minute.

READ ALSO:

Running on to a loopy cut-out, Weatherlake gassed Magpies hooker Adam Wallace and then brushed off another three defenders. Will Gordon added the extras, bending the conversion from the sideline sans Johnathan Thurston.

Jack Hannaford's boot got the Magpies on the board but Albies were quick with the reply, prop Ben Hamparsum bumping off several defenders on a 15m charge to the line to make it 14-3 midway through the first half.

They held that through to half-time. Not before a few nervous moments in the final seconds though, with the Magpies pressing their line and only metres out, but eventually being penalised for holding on in what was a bit the story of their day.

Hannaford nailed his second penalty five minutes into the second half.

But any momentum was short-lived with Albies skipper and No.8 Lachlan Elworthy barging over from a penalty tap not long after to push them out to a 13 point lead.

Hannaford closed the gap to 10 with just over 20 to play as Albies went down to 14 for the next 10 minutes with hooker Anthony Toscan binned.

But the Magpies were unable to capitalise on their man advantage, Hamish Brown finishing off after Ben Grant had split the defence open to seal the win.

"It was a good hit out," Elworthy said.

"[There was] A couple of big boys on the Tamworth team but I thought our fellas held their own pretty well throughout the game and came home with the win, which is nice."

He highlighted their discipline and trusting their process as two of the key factors in getting them the result and thought second rower Mark Green, inside centre Harry Lane and prop Chayton Ekanayake were their best.

Despite the loss - their fourth for the season, Hannaford thought there were a lot of positives for the Magpies.

"I think we worked our structure really well," he said.

"Albies just came out really hard and we have to step up our game if we're going to contest with them."

It was though a "massive improvement" from their last couple of performances.

The structure was one of the areas of improvement. Where they were struggling to put more than three or four phases together, they were at stages "getting 10 phases".

That said, simple errors consistently cruelled them - dropped balls, throws not straight, kicks out on the full.

With Robb going down to Armidale 24-7 in the other game, Albies' win saw them kick 14 points clear at the top of the table.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: