Dubbo Kangaroos coach Paul Hennock maintained he was happy to walk away with a win but he would have been delighted as a second-half onslaught helped his side to a 33-5 win over CSU Bathurst at No.1 Oval on Saturday.
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Level on points with Orange Emus in the race for the minor premiership but ahead due to the fact they have won more matches, the Roos were nervous at half-time as they led 7-5 while their rivals had already secured a bonus point courtesy of a 26-0 lead at the break of their clash with Cowra.
It meant Hennock's men, still without lock Shaun McHugh (ribs) and resting Peter Nau (ankle), not only need to win but they needed to cross three times in the final 40 minutes to gain a bonus point of their own.
To their credit, they scored four tries in the second stanza and maintained top spot in the closest Blowes Clothing Cup seen for a number of years.
"The first objective was to win but we expected Emus would probably land a bonus point so we knew that if we were in a position to do so we needed to try and get one ourselves," Hennock said.
"The boys were flat early but really stood up and played some good rugby in the second half and the outcome was really pleasing and all that we could have asked for at the start of the day."
With their vocal support crew frocked up for the occasion, CSU started enthusiastically and were rewarded when winger James Tooth opened the scoring in the 21st minute.
Countless times in the first half the students arrived in numbers in defence to curb Roos attacking raids but they were breached on the stroke of half-time when James Mata put Scott Burgess through a gap to score under the posts.
Mata's conversion gave the Roos a 7-5 lead at the break.
While the first half was tense, play opened up a bit in the second half as the Roos started to assert their dominance across the park.
Centre Filisione Pauta scored shortly after the resumption of play to help the hosts establish a nine-point buffer before James Elliott's try in the 61st minute gave the Roos an unassailable lead and put them within reach of the bonus point.
When Pauta bagged his second try with 10 minutes remaining it was mission accomplished for the Roos, before Mata added to the margin with a late try of his own to take his personal haul for the game to 13 points.
CSU coach James McLaren praised the Roos effort while also lauding his own team in defeat.
"I think that first 40 minutes was the best we've played all season," McLaren said.
"We had chances to extend that lead we had but couldn't quite do it and then they struck on half-time. Good sides are able to do things like that.
"We were beaten handily in the end but I thought we did a good job across the park. Roos are obviously a benchmark team in this competition and I think they'll go a fair way in the finals."
o DUBBO KANGAROOS 33 (Filisione Pauta 2, Scott Burgess, James Elliott, James Mata tries; Mata 4 convs) def CSU BATHURST 5 (James Tooth try).
