The Dubbo Rhinos produced a spirited performance but were outclassed by the Bathurst Bulldogs in a 51-5 defeat in Blowes Clothing Cup on Saturday.
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The Rhinos were hoping to use home ground advantage to challenge the undefeated Bulldogs and produced a physical display but just couldn’t match the competition frontrunners.
They trailed 22-5 at half-time after having two players yellow carded for high shots and coach Dave Stuart felt his side was capable of a comeback but it didn’t happen.
“It’s not hard to see why they [Bulldogs] are undefeated. Along with Emus they are the class side of the competition,” he said.
“We went with them for much of the first half and even with the scores at 22-5 at half-time, I thought it was possible.
“We had a couple of other chances to score in the first half and if we had taken them, it may have been a different game.”
The Bulldogs opened the scoring but the Rhinos hit straight back to lock the scores at 5-all. The hosts were trailing 15-5 when the first yellow card came, and another before the break helped the visitors to a 17-point advantage.
The Rhinos mentor said his men have the capability to trouble top sides but but they needed to believe that.
“I think for a lot of our guys its about trusting that we can be competitive with these top sides,” Stuart said.
“We are realistic, we aren’t Bulldogs or Emus but we are a mid-table side, which is a lot better than last year.
“Our defence is bruising but our attack is lacking something and I think that comes down to confidence.”
Bulldogs coach Nathan Pearce said his team had to work hard to get ahead of Rhinos.
“It was a tough day at the office. We were on the end of a few high shots but to our boys’ credit they stuck to their game,” he said.
“The score was stuck at 5-all at one stage but we did well to get away.”
The first grade result capped a tough day for the Rhinos with Bulldogs winning second grade 83-0 and colts 65-0.
Dubbo will host the struggling Parkes Boars on Saturday after they were beaten 101-0 by Emus.