The Rhinos ran out 10-5 winners in what was a scrappy affair, despite being without the injured Jordan Davis, James Vaughan, Brett Austin, Kini Talaulucavu and Sione Hafuka.

“I thought our defence was sensational out there today,” Rhinos coach Dave Stuart said.

“We knew it was going to be tough – we’ve got a few out and they’ve got a few out as well – but look, credit to our guys. They stuck to it the whole game and we got through our phases but defence won it for us today.”

The game got off to a slow start, and more than 20 minutes had passed before Dubbo’s Ross Gilmour put some points on the board.

The fullback received the ball out wide and slipped around the Eagles’ tacklers, then deftly chipped the ball over Cowra’s back line.

The bounce was kind, and Gilmour regathered the ball to cross in the corner and give the Rhinos a 5-0 lead.

The scoreboard would remain that way for close to 40 minutes, when the Rhinos found their way over again through Burren Shaw took an intercept and ran away to score.

In his second game of the day, Shaw darted forward to intercept a Cowra pass and, showing no signs of fatigue, sprinted almost 50 metres to cross for the Rhinos’ second try.

Cowra looked certain to bounce back just minutes later when Mitch Williams was sent from the field for a shoulder charge barely 20 minutes out from the Rhinos line.

But the hosts held firm to deter the Eagles’ advances, and even made a few attacking forays of their own while a man down.

Williams returned to the field with just minutes left on the clock, only for Cowra’s Anthony Yeo to charge over in the dying moments.

The defeat means Cowra remains winless after five rounds.

Eagles stalwart Col Kilby said it was a gutsy performance from a side that had two players pull out the morning of the game, and another two play two games.

“All in all it was a gutsy effort,” he said.

“It was a good 80-minute performance, we started well with a good intensity which was what we were after.

“Missed a few opportunities that were created but other than that we weren’t too far off the money.”

“Cowra put in, there’s some good players in there and I thought realistically they could have snuck in there and taken it away from us,” Stuart said.

“But we’ll take that … I thought our stand-in captain Kane Rich was excellent, Ja (Javarn Nofoagatotoa) in the centres gave us a lot of momentum up front and Teina (Huia) our number eight stole a lot of ball today.

“But just the work of all the forward pack, especially around the ruck in terms of defence and putting pressure on their ball, was just fantastic.

“Having the games each week, we’ve got to get used to it. We won’t always have all our numbers on deck so it’s good for the guys to get that experience and tough one out.”

DUBBO RHINOS 10 (Ross Gilmour, Burren Shw tries) def COWRA EAGLES 5 (Anthony Yeo try)