![TOUGH DAY: Thirroul forward Aaron Beath takes on the Corrimal defence in rough conditions at Gibson Park. Picture: Robert Peet TOUGH DAY: Thirroul forward Aaron Beath takes on the Corrimal defence in rough conditions at Gibson Park. Picture: Robert Peet](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/ViGe8NXxNszpWGz2Wi7TWd/f4697de5-b835-4f3f-a70f-3a7d6e27ab67.jpg/r0_393_5184_3309_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
THIRROUL extended their winning run to three straight games with a 28-18 win over Corrimal in atrocious conditions at Gibson Park on Saturday.
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Both sides turned on a high quality match despite playing on a rain-soaked pitch that was chopped to pieces in the fiery reserve grade encounter that preceded the clash.
The Butchers twice had a buffer of two converted tries, but were forced to play til the final moments by a game Cougars outfit that made a more than fair account of themselves after trailing 20-6 at halftime.
The margin could’ve been even greater with the Butchers getting across the line a further six times in the match only to be denied by some desperate Cougars defence.
Young skipper Jack Payne had a treble for the visitors but it wasn’t enough as the Butchers grabbed their opportunities late in both halves to grab another crucial two competition points.
Having managed wins against both of last year’s grand finalists in their previous two outings, Butchers coach Jarrod Costello had warned his side against dropping their guard.
“In our first session back after the Wests game [last start] we said this game coming was our most important so far this year,” Costello said.
“Corrimal always lift against us. They’re always good games of footy and we knew we had to put a performance in to get the win.
“I thought both sides played pretty well considering the conditions we were playing in. For that many points to be scored was pretty good.
“We had to hang tough there because they’re a very willing team and we knew they were going to play for the full 80 minutes.
“We had to really defend our try-line late again to seal the win and we did that so that’s pleasing.”
The Butchers had early points when front-rower Jack Noble seized on a fumble from Cougars fullback Tony Pellow for the opening try.
Sam Clune crossed soon after but undid his work on kickoff reception fumbling the ball and opening the door for a Cougars hit-back.
It came quickly with Payne strolling across after catching the Butchers out on the short side from the ensuing scrum.
The Cougars looked certain to level up when Colby Pellow broke the Butchers open on the left edge only to grassed by Butchers back-rower Luke Dodge.
Clune’s second effort on Pellow close to the line earned him 10 minutes in the sin-bin but the home side still manged to jump ahead when Jack Eager snapped up another back-field fumble from the visitors to push the lead out to 16.
Luke Gallagher crossed late in the half to take a 20-6 lead into the interval.
The Cougars needed to strike first after the resumption and they did so through Payne who scooped up perfectly weight chip-kick hooker Wawrick Carter to peg the lead back to 20-10.
The Cougars were down to 12 after Douglas Faaiu was marched for his part in a scuffle before Jamie McElhone’s try re-took momentum for the Butchers.
Payne completed is hat-trick after an in-goal scramble after a Nick Greenhalgh grubber but it was as close as they got with a Jay Gallagher penalty goal rounding out the scoring.