Despite the harrowing winds the Avondale v Shoalhaven clash lived up to its blockbuster billing on Saturday with the visitors holding on to maintain their unbeaten record.
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But Shoals had to work hard to secure their 11th straight win of the Illawarra District Rugby Union season against an Avondale side which played the majority of the match a man down.
The Wombats set the scene early for an enthralling contest when powerful No 8 Tevita Vea crossed for a try, which was converted by Netani Siga, to give the home side a 7-0 lead.
But that man Siga turned villain a few minutes later when he was given a red-card for knees in the back of Mark Brandon after he scored a try for Shoalhaven.
That meant Avondale had to play with only 14 players for the remaining 72 minutes.
Wombats coach Joe Aiona told the Mercury ahead of the game his side had to contain danger men, the Brandon brothers Steven, Keiran and Mark.
Unfortunately the latter proved too hard to handle, scoring a hat-trick of tries in Shoalhaven's gritty 26-14 victory at Avondale Rugby Park.
But for 43 minutes of the game it was the Wombats who led 7-5 before the reigning premiers took the lead through a smart try to inside centre Joey Nelson.
Brandon scored his second five-pointer seven minutes later to extend Shoalhaven's lead to 19-7.
But Avondale refused to lie down and reduced the deficit to only five-points midway through the second half courtesy of a converted try to Netane Masima.
![Avondale player Tevita Vea scored a try in his team's 26-14 loss to Shoalhaven. Picture by Adam McLean Avondale player Tevita Vea scored a try in his team's 26-14 loss to Shoalhaven. Picture by Adam McLean](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/kZL4qV6yTxfrWZJxKQxjSN/a138aa07-47b0-4de7-a23f-fef5c893b6fc.jpg/r0_82_4096_2394_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
But that man Brandon again came to the party 10 minutes from fulltime, racing through to score his third try, which he duly converted, to finish with 17-points for the match.
Brandon said the tough win was Shoals best this season.
"To get over them up here, especially in these conditions is really nice," he said.
"I believe it's our best win of the season, as a whole team definitely."
Personally the flying winger said while he didn't get much open space, the little he did he made the most of.
Brandon added he was extremely pleased with the team's resilience.
"It was tough out there. The conditions obviously didn't help either team," Brandon said.
"I thought our resilience today was really good. Especially our goal-line resilience. There was a period there where they were pushing hard close to our line but we held them out and then scored ourselves."
Aiona was left to rue the send-off of Siga and the trying conditions which made playing free-flowing rugby difficult.
But the coach said he was extremely proud of his team's efforts playing a man down against the premiers.
"I'm proud of the boys today. It was tough in those conditions. To compete against a quality side like Shoalhaven with a man down showed a lot of courage and effort," he said.
"As I feared their game-breakers hurt us today. The Miller [Will and George} brothers and Brandons were terrific.
"We didn't give them many chances but he [Mark} doesn't need many.
"It's a shame the conditions weren't good for us to play running rugby but we need to regroup and look to get better ahead of the finals.
"I'm glad it wasn't a grand final today. It's up to us now to try and get there."
In the other Illawarra rugby matches on Saturday, Bowral downed University 26-10, Kiama won a thriller over Campbelltown 34-33 and Camden and Shamrocks played out an entertaining 26-all draw.
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