IF THE last two weeks are anything to go by, there’s something brewing up at Pride Park.
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After an up-and-down start to the Blowes Clothing Cup season Orange City has scored two massive, bonus point wins in the past fortnight, scoring 128 points and conceding just 22 in the process.
The second of those wins was on Saturday, when the Lions thumped CSU Bathurst 43-12.
It could’ve been a bigger win too, considering Orange City bungled a couple of scoring opportunities in the opening half.
“The most pleasing aspect is probably only conceding those 22 points in those games,” Lions assistant coach Josh Maley said.
“We’ve got a bit of consistency back in our game which I think comes mainly from putting the same side on the paddock in consecutive weeks.
“Saturday was a good, strong performance against a side that pushed us last time around. It was really nice to see our attacking plans come together.”
Although the students were severely understrength thanks to university holidays, even CSU skipper Cam Backhouse conceded his side was simply outclassed.
“We did have a few missing, but that’s not really an excuse I want to use although it does have an impact. For instance, we had a flanker playing hooker who’d never played there before. That type of thing makes it tough,” Backhouse said.
“They pushed our scrum around all day too, our line-out got fed as well.
“I really don’t think we actually played that badly outside the set-piece, it would’ve been a lot closer if we had’ve been a bit stronger there I think.”
Orange City opened the scoring on Pride Park’s No.2 field – the game was moved to Orange from a waterlogged University Oval – through Joe Lasagavibau in the opening exchanges, prompting predictions of a blow-out from the crowd.
Our back three, Cam Cole, Keegan Harding and Taylor Smith, were all very strong again as well. They've hit their straps in the last couple of games
- Lions assistant coach Josh Maley
But CSU kicked into gear after that and scored a try of their own although the Lions crossed again and Keegan Harding nailed a penalty goal as well to give the Lions a 17-5 lead at half-time.
The students had the better of the opening stages of the second half, but tired in the later stages and the Lions took advantage, scoring another 26 points seal the 31-point win.
“Joey was outstanding,” Maley said.
“Our back three, Cam Cole, Keegan Harding and Taylor Smith, were all very strong again as well. They've hit their straps in the last couple of games.”
One of those tries in the later stages came through 18-year-old fill-in halfback Lachie Stewart, who slotted into the No.9 jersey after Tom Nell was ruled out thanks to his troublesome ankle.
Reportedly, Stewart took to first grade like a duck to water in his run-on debut.
“He still has a lot to learn but he was very good, it was great to see him score there as well,” Maley said.
“The boys all got around him after he scored it, he was very excited I think. He’s got a big future ahead of him I think, he’s played a lot of representative rugby and I think he’ll play plenty more in the years to come.”
The Lions will look to continue their good form against Dubbo Rhinos next weekend before they have another bye, while Backhouse said the students will write that result off and focus on bouncing back against Forbes.
“It was just one of those days,” Backhouse said.
“There’s not much point dwelling on it, we’re better off looking forward. We’ll need to win most of, if not, all our games if we’re going to give ourselves a chance of playing finals football so that’s what we’ll look to do.
"We’ll forget about this one and move on to next week.”
ORANGE CITY LIONS 43 def CSU BATHURST 12