Rhinos coach Doug Sandry felt the side were brilliant for the majority of the game and looked set for a close finish before falling away in the last minutes to let Mudgee run away with the match.

"It is a bit frustrating but I can't question our effort is outstanding like to lose 25-12 here in Mudgee, they're a tough team to beat at home but to be as close as we were 15-12 with eight minutes to go we were still in the game," he said

"But once again we turned the ball over and they've run 50 metres and put us under pressure again so we just gotta fix those little things up in our game and once we get it right we are going to be hard to beat.

"We are just giving too many opportunities to the opposition coming out of their own zone."

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Sandry felt his forward played one of if not their best game of the season against what he described as one of the best packs in the competition.

"Our forwards up against the best scrum in the competition, Mudgee has a fantastic scrum and we more than held our own and at two or three stages we actually turned the ball over on penalties so our scrummaging is great," he said.

"Our lineout and set pieces were so much better than it has been but it's just our discipline on their line and forcing the pass so back to the drawing board but we will give it another crack and see how we go next week against CSU."

Fullback Dale Smith scored both tries for the Rhinos but Sandry was full of praise for his injured scrum-half.

"I thought our halfback Te ahu Baker was fantastic and he played injured too, he hurt his neck at training on Thursday and was in doubt until pretty much game time but he played the whole 80, " he said.

"He drove them around the park, his options were great, his kicking was great, he had a terrific game.

"(Also) Our hooker and captain Grimace (Matt Graham) outstanding, he is a terrific leader, he had our great game."

In the round's other game, the travelling Parkes Boars were too strong for the struggling Narromine Gorillas winning 28-10 while CSU had the bye.

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