Orange Emus' injury toll increases in round 10 Blowes Clothing Cup win over Cowra

The 27-24 victory extended the greens' buffer over Cowra to seven points, but with prop Matt Findlay, centre Tom Joseph and second-rower Nick Hughes-Clapp already sidelined, losing the likes of of Rob Thorburn (shoudler) and Jamil Khalfan (bicep) hasn't helped the greens' long-term aspirations.

Hughes-Clapp, nursing knee and shoulder complaints, kitted up as an absolute last resort on Saturday and was actually forced to take the field briefly after Thorburn (shoulder) was forced from it, such was Emus' injury toll.

But the extent of those injuries and any resulting time off they bring is yet to be confirmed, and greens' boom hooker Charlie Henley said for now his side is just focusing on escaping the tough trip to Cowra Rugby Ground with a bonus point win.

Particularly considering his side was down to 14 in the dying stages.

"We'll always take the five points coming away... we just didn't touch the ball (in) that second half and gave away penalties. I think we were lucky to keep 15 men on the field for as long as we did... we just did ourselves no favours in the second half," Henley explained.

Although Cowra led 7-nil after after a Ross Hynes intercept try the greens hit back immediately, thrice in fact, although the Eagles hit back on the stroke of half-time to reduce the margin to three at 17-14.

The intensity picked up again in the second half and Ingmar Talman and Nigel Staniforth traded penalty goals, before the greens crossed from a line-out in the 55^th minute.

Staniforth found his range after a wayward start to push the greens' lead to 10 at 27-17, but the visitors were forced to weather a massive barrage of Eagles' attacking raids in the final stages.

They held, despite that yellow card, until the 80^th minute and by then the result was assured, Cowra's converted try doing nothing more than helping them pick up a potentially-vital bonus point.

"Our set piece was strong the whole game. They've got a massive pack... we had two new props, a second rower that came in this week," Henley said.

"[To] hold our own in the scrum and line out and disrupt every one of their balls was nice. I'll take that everyday of the week as a hooker."

The Emus will take on the Platypi in Forbes next weekend, while the Eagles will travel to Orange to take on the Lions.