Orange City fell to Bathurst Bulldogs 33-21 at Pride Park on Saturday

It was those conditions, paired with a dominant performance from Bathurst Bulldogs' forward pack, that helped the premiers claim a 33-21 over the Orange City Lions in round five of the Blowes Clothing Cup competition.

And it's not to say the weather directly led to a Bulldogs' win - that would be taking too much away from the champions.

It's that Matt McRobert's men played to the conditions perfectly, while City tried to do a bit too much early on.

A double-digit half-time lead allowed the Bulldogs to finish what they started as they held off a fast-finishing City outfit. Viv Paasi's men laid on a trio of tries in the second 40.

"We knew coming up here it was going to be wet," Bulldogs' coach Matt McRobert said.

"We knew we had to play it tight and we knew our scrum was going to play a big role."

And play a big role it did as the scrum saw Bulldogs awarded a pair of penalty tries as City succumbed to the push from the premiers.

"The scrum was strong and the line-out was good... it was really satisfying," he said.

"It was under fairly difficult conditions, too. We knew city had points in them and they showed that in the second half but ultimately, we laid the platform in the first half."

Phillip Tonkin and Scott Johnson went back-to-back for the home side before the game's first penalty try saw Bulldogs take a 21-0 buffer into the sheds.

Credit where credit's due to the Lions as they mustered a 21-12 score sheet in the final 40, showing they have what it takes to mix it with the competition's elite when they can hold onto the footy.

Despite an error-riddled game, City halfback Tom Nell was proud of the way his side finished and knows it's a good building block for the remainder of the season.

"Our first-half sucked," Nell said.

"We had a heap of penalties and our scrum struggled in the wet surface but the boys still dug deep.

"It was a great second half from us and the fact that we scored at the 80^th minute shows how much heart we have."

Orange City will get to iron out the kinks in their game as they have the bye in round six, while Bulldogs have a rematch with Dubbo Kangaroos.