Blowes Clothing Cup: Bathurst Bulldogs defeat Orange Emus 28-13

A very fast-paced game from the get-go, was the message Orange Emus coach Peter Bromley had for his players, following a 28-13 defeat to the Bathurst Bulldogs on the weekend.

"The boys are feeling a bit frustrated, because we give ourselves every chance to win and then we're our own worst enemies," Bromley said.

"When you're giving Cowra and Bathurst a sniff, they'll take it - so we've just got to be better at that and it's really frustrating, because we do it week in, week out."

Off the back of a tough defeat to the Cowra Eagles last week, the return of some of the Emus' best on the weekend had supporters at Endeavour Oval pushed right up against the barriers.

In anticipation of how the boys in green would meet the pressure - and a debut appearance from second-grader, Peter Brus in at lock - the Bulldogs came out firing on all cylinders.

Dominating the majority of possession, Bathurst ran riot by capitalising on breakdowns and forcing handfuls of consecutive turnovers.

"When we give away penalties and piggyback people out of trouble, they take advantage of it," Bromley said.

"And you just can't do it against better sides than us on the ladder."

Bathurst's defence in the first-half put every possible bit of pressure on Emus' attack in the first 20 minutes, with no points scored by either team early on.

Ball-hungry and consistently quick off the line, the Emus kept having to face the realities of missed opportunity with each shutdown of play.

With the Bulldogs missing a penalty attempt around the 25 minute mark, followed by a forward pass in the back line, Emus had a scrum-feed in their favour - which was short-lived, after a knock-on gave Bathurst possession of the ball again.

Eventually making a break 10 minutes out from half-time, Emus maneuvered an overlap to their advantage and utilised the depth of their back line, swinging the ball from the far left of the field.

Reaching its right-wing, Harry Cummins went full-pelt toward the try line, claiming the first points in the match.

A successful conversion by Emus' outside center, Nigel Staniforth had the board at 7-0.

Staniforth followed up with another conversion success not long after, with a penalty going to Emus for a Bulldogs ruck infringement for tackling one of its oppositions while without the ball

The score then sat at 10-nil, Emus' way.

After an Emus lineout and Bathurst winning the ball, a return serve happened just a few short phases later.

Bulldogs' inside center, Hunter Davis got over the line just before half-time and with a successful conversion by scrum-half Kurt Weekes, the mid-match whistle went with the score at 10-7.

"We were doing a lot right, but then we just let ourselves down at crucial times and let them in with a try just before half-time; and we should've been up," Emus' coach, Pete Bromley said.

"We should've taken more opportunities in the first half and we just didn't give ourselves a fair crack at it."

In the second half, the first five-10 minutes had Emus struggling to capitalise on errors, with the Bulldogs spending a fair chunk of time in the Orange side's half.

Around the 60 minute mark, another Emus lineout resulted in a rolling maul and they made it to the line, but were unable to ground the ball.

A head-high tackle from the Bulldogs allowed the Emus to capitalise and Staniforth's third successful conversion made it 13-7 to the hosts.

While the Emus' defence picked up, things changed drastically in the final 10 minutes.

Bathurst fullback, Joe Nash, broke through the Emus defence and with another good conversion from Weekes, the Bulldogs nudged forward on the board for the first time, making it 14-13 their way.

After on-point counter-rucking and moving the ball around quickly, they did it again only minutes later.

Bulldogs' front-rower, Alex Weal then got over the line and the hooker's try was supported by yet another successful kick from Weekes, with the board reading 21-13.

Some several missed tackles and an intercepted ball followed and Bathurst second-rower, Justin Mobbs then came charging over the line; Weekes' trusty boot made it 28-13 at full-time.

Gratitude wasn't lost on the Bulldogs' coach, Chris Plunkett, who said pre-game, the side had "big chats about turning up."

With a thirst for securing a win, Bathurst's performance paid off in dividends at the close.

"In the sheds, we talked about turning up today and I couldn't ask any more of the guys - they turned up and they did exactly what we've been training to do all year," Plunkett said.

"We knew Emus would bring it, especially at home where they've had the win on us a couple of times, and we knew they wanted this one - they needed this one, and we needed this one to stay on top [of the ladder], too.

"And it was anyone's game up until the last 10 minutes, so we, as coaches, could not be happier for them."

With Cowra securing a narrow 22-20 win against Forbes Platypi on the weekend, Bulldogs remain second on the ladder, sitting just one point off the Eagles at the top.

"It's going to be top of the table between us and Cowra now, so that's what we've got left in front of us and that's what we focus on for the rest of the season - winning games and staying on top," Plunkett said.

For the Emus, the team currently sits at third spot on the ladder with 29 points, with Dubbo Roos nipping at their heels in fourth spot with 28 points.

With the upcoming general bye across the Blowes Cup next weekend, coach Bromley knows the boys will really need to invest in themselves leading into finals territory.

"It's hard to train for game situations, it's a case of them actually doing it rather than just chatting about it," Bromley said.

"And that's the thing, it's like ... you can talk all you want, but in the end, you've got to execute it on game day and that's what they're struggling to do.

"Thank god it's a bye, let's have a weekend off."

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