When the Dubbo Kangaroos played the Bathurst Bulldogs in the second round of the Blowes Clothing Cup they knew they were in a physical contest.
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That expectation and preparedness allowed the Roos to get the job done and while on Saturday they were fully expecting another physical showing from the Orange Emus, they weren't ready for the premiers' pace.
Emus showed their attacking quality at Endeavour Oval on Saturday, scoring a commanding 38-7 win over a depleted Roos outfit.
The Dubbo side was missing seven players due to reasons varying from injury, to work commitments, to a wedding.
The much-changed lineup couldn't handle Emus, who raced out to a 28-0 lead by half-time.
"The energy just wasn't there in the first half," Roos coach Paul Hausia said.
"The pace probably shocked the boys but it's early days."
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Flanker Jack Marchinton finished as man of the match after another tremendous showing and while the attack was again electric at times, he was pleased to keep the Roos to just one try.
"I think we really showed a lot of heart in defence today," he said.
"We spoke about the way we finished against Forbes and how it wasn't good enough for the standards we set.
"To have that defensive performance today was really good."
While the premiers were taking care of business at Orange, Forbes and Cowra also put together round four wins, making home sides nine-from-nine to start the season.
"That's interesting," Marchinton said.
"It's never really been like that in previous seasons but hopefully we break that trend next."
Emus make the short trip across town to Pride Park for a bumper derby clash with Orange City next while the Roos will hope to have some troops back on deck when they take on Cowra at No. 1 Oval.
While it was a tough day at the office, one positive for the Roos was having former regular first graders Filisione Pauta and Ben Knaggs get some minutes in the top grade off the bench.
Knaggs scored his side's lone try 11 minutes into the second stanza.
That came after Emus had shot out of the blocks and extended their lead to 38-0 inside minutes of the second half starting.
There was no points in the last half hour and Marchinton said those closing stages is an area his team still needs to work on.
"We've proven in the last two games that we can play pretty good rugby in the first 40 minutes but it's in the last 20 minutes where we're getting a bit sloppy and giving other teams a crack," he said.
"Maybe just a little bit more fitness and yeah, that should help."
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