THE Dubbo Rhinos have been handed their heaviest defeat of the season, with Cowra Eagles piling on 12 tries in round five of the Blowes Clothing Cup.
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Played at the Cowra Rugby Grounds on Saturday, the Rhinos were completely out-muscled and out-skilled in the 80-14 thumping, which saw the Eagles march in six tries in each half and Mitchell Budge secure a hat-trick.
Eagles captain Chris Miller was extremely impressed with his troops, in particular the backs who took advantage of the Rhinos' defence with superior speed.
"We've worked hard at playing direct first and then spreading the ball wide and today I thought we did that which is pretty pleasing," Miller said.
"We've learnt on backing our speed out wide, if we don't avoid the defender we're trying to at least get past the collision so we're always going forward. It's pretty pleasing to see the work paying off."
Cowra's halfback Jimmy Montgomery opened the floodgates with successive tries in the opening 15 minutes - the second converted by Alex Webster who recorded 25 points for the day - before Webster, Budge, Steve Montgomery and Ethan Cartwright all crossed before half-time.
Just before the siren, Dubbo's Josh Bernerd made the most of possession inside Eagles' territory crashing over next to the ruck following consecutive penalties from the hosts.
The Rhinos soaked up plenty of pressure in the initial stages of the second stanza before Matt Spice burst through some tired defence to register Cowra's seventh try of the afternoon.
Mitchell Budge, then became virtually unstoppable, carrying the ball for a long run down the right wing, gifting Bill Cummins a try in his return from a knee injury, before completing his hat-trick during the next two scoring plays.
Jeremy Montgomery and Miller got their names on the score sheet while Rhinos' Ricky Weatherall scored a brilliant, albeit consolation, individual try chipping Cowra's defence and regathering in the latter stages.
Dubbo Rhinos coach Dave Stuart conceded his side were outplayed and missed too many tackles.
"The guys that were here put in the effort but we were beaten by a far better side on the day," Dave Stuart said.
"It's our longest trip, we had a few guys out but that's no excuse, we dropped a lot of tackles again today.
"Credit to Cowra their centres were fantastic. they took a couple of our blokes out each time and were able to get the ball outside and they certainly had some pace."
The result is the Eagles' third straight victory ahead of this weekend's general bye and then game's against Orange City, Forbes and Orange Emus await.
"That last 20 minutes we went away from our game-plan which is disappointing and that's not going to cut it against the better sides in the competition," Miller said.
"After the general bye we have three tough ones, today was pretty pleasing but we're going to have to step it up."
Cowra Eagles 80 (Mitchell Budge 3, Jimmy Montgomery 2, Bill Cummins, Jeremy Montgomery, Chris Miller, Steve Montgomery, Alex Webster, Matt Spice, Ethan Cartwright tries; Webster 10 conv.) defeated Dubbo Rhinos 14 (Josh Bernerd, Ricky Weatherall tries; Chris Hobson, Travis Hill conv.)