New England Rugby Round 6: Tamworth go down to St Alberts 38-21

The Magpies' penchant for slow starts hurt them again as they went down to competition leaders St Alberts 38-21.

The damage was done in the first half with the students jumping out to a 33-nil lead at half-time.

When they then scored first in the second half, Burke admitted to thinking "here we go". But the Magpies scored 21-unanswered points to salvage some pride and show that when they get it together they can play some good football.

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"What it's done is it's allowed us to walk away with some good feeling from the game," he said.

"Although we lost I think we took some credibility away."

They will though need to iron out their starting issues.

"We just started really poorly and Albies took full advantage of that," Burke said.

"They're a pretty good unit if you allow them to get a sniff."

It was a similar story in their first round clash, with the students leading 32-14 before the Magpies came home strongly to go down by nine in the end, and has been a persistent problem.

"Our first 20-30 minutes in most matches we've played have been pretty ordinary," he said, pointing out that even in the game against Barbarians - which they went on to win - it took them about 60 minutes to get on top of them.

"If we can rectify that issue and I think we can, I think we'll be quite competitive," he added.

"Once the boys settle down and get into the game plan and their rhythm we've got what it takes."

"(But) All credit to Albies. They're a very good side and very well-coached."

He thought outside centre Jono Dunlop had his best game for the club while Jack Barker, playing at No.8 on Saturday, had a typically strong game.

Burke was also impressed with "two of the young guns".

"Tom Croake had a really solid game at breakaway and Gus Cameron is really starting to feel comfortable at fullback," he said.

Before this season he had "never played first grade or fullback" but "scored a good try" and "started taking the line on".

In the other game Armidale were 44-26 winners over Robb College.

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