In a game that had a little bit of everything - a sin bin, flare ups and a few stray dogs on the field - the Bathurst Bulldogs further stamped their dominance on the Blowes Clothing Cup competition with a win over the Cowra Eagles.
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The returning Joseph Nash and young gun Jock Suttor both scored doubles to help the minor premiers run in a 33-7 victory at Cowra Rugby Ground on Saturday afternoon.
Bulldogs' captain, Peter Fitzsimmons, said it was positive to see a number of second grade players step up and make a difference in the side.
"We had a couple of guys come out of second grade and really put their hand up and have a go," he said.
"Jock Suttor, outstanding, come out of second grade two weeks ago and scored a couple this week and scored two this week, you can't ask anything more of your guys coming through."
Fitzsimmons said while it was great to finish off the season with the minor premiership and only one narrow loss, the job was only half done.
The team will look to rest up after both Suttor and Harry Webber left the field injured in the second half.
"This week off is going to do us the world of good, bit of light training and get through our structures but really rest up and... roll into that final strong as ever," he said.
"Towards the end of our season we've had a bit of handling errors, quite a bit of dropped ball which has made our games a bit tough... [we'll] try and fix that coming into the semis, don't give away cheap ball or cheap penalties."
Season 2019 has proven to be one of the best for the Bathurst club and Fitzsimmons said it's encouraging to see strong performances across all grades.
"But as our coach just said, Bulldogs strength is our depth through the grades, we've got five really strong grades with our girls going really well, it just shows that the strength of our club is going up and up," he said.
Eagles' coach, Colin Kilby, lamented his side's missed opportunities after the final siren.
"We let ourselves down at the start of the game, their tries that they scored against us were soft from our behalf, we totally switched off," he said.
"The scoreline should be looking a bit better than what it is but just our errors."
Kilby said there were positive signs throughout the game, with the home side scoring a try while Chris Miller was in the sin bin for intentional infringement and a gutsy defensive performance in the second half.
"We put points on with a man down, that shows guts," he said.
"We dug deep in our defence, the second half was a lot better, we controlled a lot of field position... we just didn't turn it into points.
"That's just the attitude you need, they dug deep for each other, the only way we can get through is if everyone is working together."
While the two sides slogged it out in the second half, the news came through that the Eagles are set to face Forbes in their home semi final.
"We've got a couple of weeks to rest up and then back into it," Kilby said.
After some dropped ball from both sides to start the contest, it became one way traffic for the Bulldogs, with Suttor making easy work of the Eagles' defence to score twice.
Cowra's efforts in defence were rewarded with Garrizo Gonzalo demonstrating his best soccer skills to dribble the ball down the field and score Cowra's only try for the afternoon.
Despite a more even contest in the second half, Nash stepped up to the plate to score his double before Dylan Carter crossed in the dying minutes of the contest.
- BATHURST BULLDOGS 33 (Jock Suttor 2, Joseph Nash 2, Dylan Carter tries; Will Oldham 4 conversions) defeated COWRA EAGLES 7 (Garrizo Gonzalo try; Garrizo Gonzalo 1 conversion)
