Defence was at the fore as the Griffith Waratah Tigers edged out the Yanco-Wamoon Hawks 19-12 on Saturday night in round three of the Group 20 first grade competition.

The opening first 40 minutes included everything.

Three tries, two injuries and the sin-binning of Moahoni Lelei for backchat were all key moments.

Lelei (ankle) and James Girdler (elbow/bicep) both failed to finish the match but the Waratahs were able to hold strong.

Coach Kose Lelei paid homage to his bench players for their ability to cover for the loss of personnel.

“Defence won us the game, there was a period of time where we had four props on the field because both our backrowers were off,” Lelei said.

“When things were going tough, we just defended as a team and worked for each other.

“My bench played a massive part [in the win], especially after losing two guys in the first half.”

The Waratahs fought back from 6-0 down early to take a 12-6 lead at half-time.

Shortly after the break, the Waratahs extended their lead through fullback David Rauluni as they went up 18-6.

Once again, defence held strong as both sides absorbed pressure on their own try-lines.

The next try of the match came through a moment of confusion in the 63^rd minute.

Hawks co-coach Glenn Dumbrell appeared to have fumbled a ball from dummy half and the Waratahs stopped, presuming it would be called a knock-on.

The referee deemed the pick-up to be clean though and didn’t blow his whistle. 

Dumbrell sliced through and sprinted away to score under the posts.

Five minutes later, Farmer looked to put the lead out past a converted try but his field goal shot was charged down. 

Soon after, Dumbrell was held up over the line before Dmitri Ivanouchkine was held up a set later.

Waratahs once again upped their defensive effort and Farmer had his second shot at a one-pointer.

This time it was good and the Waratahs led 19-12 as the minutes wound down.

The Waratahs saw out the last three minutes to clinch the nail-biting win.