The Bulls scored a 30-12 win when the two teams met a fortnight ago, but at a wet Seiffert Oval on Sunday just fell short.

Riverina charged back into the contest in the second half before a mistake just after scoring cost them plenty of momentum, the lead and ultimately the game.

Despite slipping to a 24-16 loss, coach Luke Berkrey was thrilled with the commitment shown in the return to open-age representative league.

"It's unfortunate but that's footy and especially this early on in the year," Berkrey said.

"I thought the boys, in any game, you couldn't knock their effort.

"They try as hard as any team I've been involved with but their execution wasn't always there and it caught up with us."

Berkrey was set to play in the clash before injuring his calf at the side's training run on Saturday.

Instead Jake Elphick took his place on the bench after answering a late call up.

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Berkrey thought the high defensive load from the first half took its toll on the side.

"I think we gassed ourselves in the first half by turning the ball over," he said.

"The game was there for the taking midway through the second half but we were pretty tired after not having a great half."

Illawarra South Coast had the better of the first half, scoring the first three tries of the game before some brilliance from Gundagai recruit Ryan McQueen gave Riverina some momentum heading into half-time.

He plucked a Derek Hay kick out of the sky and just managed to get the ball down right on half-time to see the Bulls trail 12-4.

Capitalising on a momentum shift, this time it was Cody Hodge who leaped high to take another Hay kick to cut the margin to two points.

An inspired Jake Goodwin then forced his way over four minutes later as the Bulls hit the front.

Only for disaster to strike.

First Hay dropped the restart as the ball was scintillatingly close to the sideline before Dylan Farrell forced his way over before a try against the run of play sealed the win for the Dragons with six minutes remaining.

While Berkrey was left to lament what could have been as the Illawarra South Coast set up a clash with Monaro next week, he was thrilled with a number of performances throughout the tournament.

Dane O'Hehir and Cody Hodge both offered plenty of attacking options throughout the competition, James Luff was dangerous from dummy half while forwards like Goodwin and Zac Masters, who came off midway through the second half, made an impact through the middle.

FULL-TIME

ILLAWARRA SOUTH COAST 24 (Donte Efaraimo, Chanse Perham, Dylan Farrell, Justin Jones, Tyson Simpson tries; Cameron Vazzoler 2 goals) d RIVEIRNA 16 (Ryan McQueen, Jake Goodwin, Cody Hodge tries; James Luff 2 goals)

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