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Reserve grade coach and captain Jimmy Brown said that it was a good physical match.

“We were down 12-nil at half time but after my pep talk we returned to the field where Corey Madison scored out wide,” he said.

“Matty Brown then did a chip and Rodney Fellows regathered and scored a good try “With three minutes to go I took a quick tap and scored.”

Brown was asked what was so inspirational about his half time pep talk that revved up the players.

“I told them to go back to basics and to set the platform early,” he said.

Family honour was also an inspiration. Last week Alan Thurlow, an uncle of junior player Aiden Stewart, died.

Thurlow was a former player for the Sharks and played in the 1974 grand final for Moruya.

The reserves wore black armbands and played the game in his honour.

Stewart said he was glad the boys knew it was an important game for him.

“It was a good start for the season. I’m going to play the whole season for my uncle,” he said.

Brown was happy with the teamwork skills displayed by his team on Sunday.

“For the young fellas’ first game together, I couldn’t ask for much more. They gelled together well,” he said.

The first grade was not so lucky in their pre-season battle with Cooma – they went down 23 to 10.

First grade coach Justin Zutt said that his players went “all right”, but didn’t play as well as they could have done.

“We’ve got some things to work on, such as completion rate, completing our sets and eliminating drop ball,” he said.

“We were down 16-nil, and came back to, in effect, win the second half which was pleasing at 10 to 7.

“We aim to get it all right for our first competition game against Tathra at Tathra on May 1.

The Sharks reserves and first grade sides will play the final round of the pre-season competition at Eden this weekend.