Western duo Campbell Woolnough and Rylee Blackhall gave the Riverina defence all sorts of headaches as the Rams raced to a 44-10 victory at Ron Crowe Oval on Saturday.
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The hooker-halfback combination was firing at West Wyalong, Blackhall laying on four of Western's seven tries while rake Woolnough scored one and orchestrated the game's opening four-pointer, which was an absolute bottler.
In the opening set of the match, the Rams powered 60 metres up field before, on the last tackle, Woolnough darted out of acting half and sliced through into the back field, drew the Bulls fullback and produced a deft cross-field kick for winger Tyler Colley to score inside the first minute of the game.
To ice the near-perfect opening to the second round of the Daley Cup road trip, Colley nailed the conversion from near the chalk in gusty conditions to gift the visiting green and white a 6-0 lead.
The rampage didn't end there either.
Western produced four more first-half tries to completely blow-out the Bulls in the opening stanza and lead 28-0 at the break.
"We really enjoyed our footy in the first half and we're looking forward to taking that into the next round," Woolnough said.
Rams coach Kurt Hancock said starting fast was a key part of Western's game plan heading into the Riverina clash, but not even he expected such precision in the execution.
"We thought we had to start well and start fast and go at them early … but to score a try in the first set of game is pretty impressive. It really set the standard for the next 65 minutes of the game," Hancock added.
Blackhall's creative guile was on full display against the Bulls.
He put centre Mack Atkins over for a try in the 13th minute with a lovely long ball and produced a deft grubber for St Pat's backrower Nick Barlow to score mid-way through the first period.
The Wellington young-gun found space soon after and looked to have laid on a double on a platter for Barlow, but temptation got the better of the Bathurst forward and he was pinged for a double movement.
It didn't matter though, Blackhall, again, linking with his hulking edge forward a minute later to gift Barlow the brace he missed out on earlier, rocketing Western to its 28-point lead at the break.
The Rams led 44-0 after Blackhall produced his fourth try assist of the game - Western's seventh four-pointer of the contest - and the visitors took their foot of the Bulls throat there after, allowing the hosts a couple of consolation tries.
The only concern is a knee injury to gun fullback Ash Cosgrove, who left the field after five minutes after reeling out of an ugly tackle that aggravated a knee injury picked up in Western's win over Penrith in round one.
He wanted to play and not come off, he's tough kid but it was niggling him.
- Rams coach Kurt Hancock on Ash Cosgrove's knee injury.
The St Pat's star didn't return but Hancock said that was precautionary.
"He wanted to play and not come off, he's tough kid but it was niggling him. You've got to remember these guys are only 17 or 18 and plenty of footy ahead of them. Don't want to jeopardise that," he said.
Cosgove will likely miss next week's clash with the South Coast, but given the form of Tyler Colley and the return of Noah Ryan, Hancock is flush for depth.
- WESTERN RAMS 44 (Nick Barlow 2, Noah Ryan, Mack Atkins, Campbell Woolnough, Nathan Ward, Tyler Colley, Colby Peckham tries; Tyler Colley 6 goals) def RIVERINA BULLS 10 (T Jenkins, T Fattore tries; J Lucas 1 goal)
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