For the first time in seven years CSU Bathurst marked the start of their season with a win.
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On Saturday afternoon at University Oval, the students ran in seven tries in an impressive display of rugby to beat New Holland Agriculture Cup rivals Blayney 47-21.
It was the first time since CSU beat Cowra 38-22 in 2012 that the students had prevailed in a season opener.
Not surprisingly, new co-coach Dave Conyers was delighted. It was not just the result, but the way CSU went about achieving it which made him so happy.
The hosts were well-disciplined throughout and in turn, they capitalised on Blayney's mistakes.
Their short kicking game was impressive, the speed in their backline gained them good metres, and they muscled up at the breakdown.
"It was fantastic, the boys have got some responsibilities now, a few new roles for them, and they just put it together, it was good," Conyers said.
"I thought our tactical kicking was brilliant. That really was the game plan for us, to turn them around, their older, bigger forwards, and make them work a bit harder.
"We were quick to react, we had a couple of really smart plays in the middle there which made a big difference.
"Our ball protection was good, we only gave away two penalties in the second half. There were six in the first half, but eight penalties in a game - that's discipline.
"I really honed in on that during the week as that has really been something the last couple of years which has cost them games."
It was some bad discipline that helped Blayney open the scoring in the fourth minute. Driving from an attacking line-out following a penalty, Rick Scott then peeled off and darted over the line. Casey Wallace converted to make it 7-nil.
But by the 10-minute mark things were back on level terms as Aidan Kennelly scored from a charge down, CSU then taking the lead after Jack Keppel took a quick penalty tap and crashed over.
By half-time CSU led 26-7 - the pick of their four first-half tries coming as they countered via an intercept from deep in their own half. Centre Regan Hughes, who was a standout thanks to his strong fend and turn of speed, was the man who crossed.
After the break Keppel set up two tries in 10 minutes, putting Nick Greenberg over after a quick penalty tap before a grubber in behind the line set up Kennelly's second.
Though Scott nabbed his second for Blayney in that time too, at 40-14 CSU was in control. Nick Plunkett added another for the hosts soon after thanks to a nice dummy.
Blayney coach Steve Hamson knows his side has plenty to work on.
"Every mistake we made they punished us for and we didn't get beyond a couple of phases. Just our execution really let us down," he said.
- CSU BATHURST 47 (Aidan Kennelly 2, Nick Greenberg 2, Regan Hughes, Jack Keppel, Nick Plunkett tries; Jack Keppel 6 conversions) def BLAYNEY RAMS 21 (Rick Scott 2, Ryan Simmons tries; Casey Wallace 3 conversions)
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