The first Manildra-Molong game since 2009 delivered on the hype and, with just two points in it for the final 25 minutes, the Bulls looked poised to pinch a monumental victory.

The Rhinos' defence, though, was incredible.

Over the course of the final 15 minutes the Bulls had four serious chances to score the go-ahead try only to have those hopes foiled by the suffocating Rhinos defence and then, in the final minute, Molong pressed again looking for the match-winner but a big hit by Manildra prop Jack Gibson forced an error from the home side and secured the red and whites a valuable two points at the Dr Ross Memorial Recreation Ground.

Defence isn't a renowned quality in Woodbridge Cup sides and across the 2019 season the league averages about 60 points per game.

But on Sunday Osborne said his side's sole focus was on standing tall without the ball, and the Rhinos did just that for virtually the entire second half.

So much so, the former NSW residents prop says the 2018 runners-up proved they can muscle up with the best of them across the entire Western Division following what was a physical clash with the Bulls.

"You'd hear a lot about Woodbridge Cup being a secondary competition but I think it showed today it's on par with Group 10 and Group 11," Osborne said looking at the cup title race as a whole.

"We've been working on our defence a lot, it's been letting us down the last couple of weeks in the second half, we've let players run over us and teams get back in it but we showed today we've got it.

"Credit to Molong, they had a big game and made it tough for us."

Played in front of a bumper crowd in Molong, a brutal opening 40 minutes resulted in a 6-all deadlock, Jack Gibson and Tory Madden crossing for the Rhinos and Bulls respectively.

As they did in the opening half, Manildra managed to produce first points in the second stanza too and Jayden Fahey's four-pointer was a pearler.

Mitch Gibson's cross-field kick was regathered by winger Luke Wilson and he came up with a deft little kick back in field for Fahey to latch on to and score.

Hutchings' conversion was perfect and the visitors again skipped out to a six point lead, five minutes into the new half.

From that point the Rhinos were on top and they threatened to kick further ahead but in the 55^th minute a promising Manildra raid went south quickly when Tory Madden intercepted a Mitch Gibson long ball and raced 70 metres to score.

Andrew Drady's wonky left boot missed a get-able conversion but at 12-10 you got the feeling the Bulls had more points in them.

Molong worked their way into attacking territory countless times but just couldn't land the killer blow, the best chances coming via two Barrow raids - ending with Todd held up and Jye's attempt to put the ball down spilling over the line.

Bulls skipper Jim Gavin says his side's inability to convert attacking ball into more points comes down to the 2019 squad being a new one.

"We're still coming together. We're building every week to something better," he said.

"We've got a lot of new blokes. We've leaked a few points in the last couple of weeks but we tightened that up this week.

"They're a quality team. To only leak two tries against a top contender like that, we're pretty happy with how we went."

The Molong local loved having the Rhinos-Bulls derby back on the calendar.

"The rivalry has been there since I was a kid. Old families locking horns, it's great to play in and I've been fortunate to play in a few," the veteran, red-headed prop said.

It's a sentiment backed up by another hard-nosed prop, Osborne playing in his first Molong-Manildra game.

"Local derbies are great, and it shows by the crowd today. Footy is well and truly alive in these parts," he added.