Undermanned and up against a physical Golden Eagles in Eugowra, Petrie's red and whites fumbled their way to an 18-10 Woodbridge Cup victory and remain in second on the 2021 ladder.

Tellingly, too, Petrie's former Orange CYMS teammate Sam Hill made his debut as a Rhino, the premiership winning rake coming off the bench in the eight-point win - Manildra's ninth victory of the season.

Petrie is hoping the four-time Group 10 winner - Hill won titles in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2015 during the Orange club's golden run in the last decade - will prove a real spark off the bench as the business end of the Cup competition nears.

"It was his first game for us and his first game for about three or four years," Petrie said.

"He'd come along to watch a few games to start the year and we hinted at him and hinted at him and we got him out there.

"Hopefully (he'll play the rest of the year), it'll depend on how his body holds up. He's got a lot of first grade experience."

Petrie said the victory was one to savor given the warm conditions Manildra was met with at Eugowra, and the physical style of play Brad McMillan's side has developed this year.

The Golden Eagles sit in fifth place on the ladder following the tough loss.

"It's a tough one over there ... it wasn't our prettiest game, we dropped a fair bit of ball, but I said at start of year even if we're not at our best and we're still able to come away with the points then that's a good sign," he said.

He said his bench - headlined by Gibsons Hugh and Blake and Brad Patrick - produced the goods at Ian Walsh Field.

"We didn't lose anything when they came on, it really helped," Petrie added.

The Rhinos play the last-placed Condobolin this weekend in a "danger game", Petrie says, after the Rams knocked off Grenfell to secure their maiden win of 2021.

From there, the Rhinos will be charging towards the finals with games against likely top five combatants Molong (fourth), Trundle (third) and Canowindra (first) before hosting Cargo in the last round.

Petrie said the Rhinos the key to ensuring Manildra maintains its place in the Cup's top two throughout that tough period was simple - control the ruck.

"Against Eugowra we probably let them up a bit too quickly and they got a role on. Canowindra's another step up in that regard, too, and if we don't control them they've got the strike out wide to really make us pay," the first-year captain-coach said.

In other Woodbridge Cup games to round out round 13, Condobolin beat Grenfell 42-24, Trundle accounted for Cargo comfortably, 42-4 and the Molong and Peak Hill clash was canned following the Roosters' woes. Canowindra had the bye.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: