THE Orange curse has struck once again for the Bathurst Bulldogs.

For the third time this season the Bulldogs have failed to post a win against a Central West Rugby Union rival from Orange, going down 41-13 to the Emus at Ashwood Park on Saturday.

It took Emus - who beat Bulldogs in the season opener - almost half an hour to get on the board. But once they did they made life very difficult for the home side.

Two Emus tries shortly before half-time did the damage to the Bulldogs, who went into the break on the wrong side of a 24-3 scoreline.

Bulldogs failed to find a way through a rigid Emus defence for over an hour and by the time they did, it was too late.

That loss made it two defeats in three weeks for Bulldogs, who also went down 33-15 to Orange City a fortnight ago. In that time they have slipped from first to fourth on the ladder.

Still, Bulldogs co-coach Scott Johnston had praise for both teams involved in Saturday's match.

"Defensively I thought Orange were outstanding today. Their line speed was excellent and they put a lot of pressure on us. They were the team that deserved to win," he said.

"I thought we played well as well. It was a great game of football with two teams that toughed it out very well. Their possession in the end just mounted, especially towards the end of both halves. That's where Emus really put the points on.

"Physicality in the tackle and their line speed is where they beat us. They excelled there. We made three mistakes there where they scored tries off. They take 21 points away from that, they get themselves in front and that helps them with the way they play.

"We've lost to Emus and City now ... beating them is our goal and we get one more chance to do that against City."

Emus didn't even touch the ball for the opening five minutes as Bulldogs looked threatening early.

After one missed attempt, Bulldogs captain Steve Locke made his second penalty kick count to give his side a 3-0 lead.

It was then the Bulldogs turn to show the visitors what they could do in defence when the Emus spent a long time camped inside their 22 metres zone.

Ollie Crowe soon found himself in the sin-bin for a tackle infringement and being a man short, the workload only increased for Bulldogs.

In spite of that, Emus still struggled to find a way through.

Eventually, just before Crowe was due to return to the field, Adam Perri found a gap close by the uprights.

Tom Green then scored on the left wing to give the visitors a 14-point lead.

A turnover after the half-time siren from Bulldogs saw the ball in Carter Hirini's hands and the Emus winger put on a show.

He sprinted down the right wing, palmed off a defender and faked a kick before cutting back inside and running over for the five points.

Bulldogs came out in the second half with a positive attitude, but Emus centre Nigel Staniforth rushed off the line for an intercept try to make it 31-3.

Reserve back Adam Plummer got over the line twice to keep the Bulldogs' faint hopes alive.

But time ran out for the hosts and just to sink the boot in, Hirini crossed for his second try in the dying moments.

"That was definitely our best performance this year in terms of intensity over a full match. I'm really proud of our defence and think that's the reason why we won. We got a few tries off the back of our defence," Emus co-coach Graydon Staniforth said.

"With Bulldogs you know that it's going to be a hard game, so if you don't turn up then you're not a chance."

Staniforth said it would be nice if he could work out how to replicate Saturday's performance every weekend.

"I don't know how we keep doing it [against Bulldogs]. It would be nice to do that against a few of the other teams," he said.

"We need to try and bottle that performance up. We need to continue working for each other.

"The big thing for us this week is that we had our nine, 10 and 13 playing together - our decision makers - and we haven't had them together for about five weeks."

ORANGE EMUS 41 (Carter Hirini 2, Adam Perri, Tom Green, Nigel Staniforth, Andrew Cosgrove tries; Nigel Staniforth penalty; Nigel Staniforth 4 conversions) defeated BATHURST BULLDOGS 13 (Adam Plummer 2 tries; Steve Locke penalty)