At Wade Park on Sunday, if you were looking for instructions on the perfect start to a footy game, than Orange Hawks provided it.
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After 30 minutes, the home side were out to, what looked like, an unassailable lead with the scoreboard reading 20-0.
But the Nyngan Tigers weren't going away.
Fighting hard, the away team put on 18 unanswered points to go close to an unlikely victory but it wasn't enough as the men in blue held out for their second win of the season.
"We'll take the two points, the start of the game is what I take the most out of," Hawks coach Shane Rodney said.
"We set the game up really well that first twenty minutes and then from there on we lost our way a bit.
"They were coming to get us but our guys hung in at the death which was good but I think they're going to take plenty of lessons about completing sets and basics that were working for us. It got a bit loose there and it nearly cost us."
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Deryne McKenzie looked like a man on a mission in the opening exchanges and his big runs were rewarded with the opening try six minutes in.
A brilliant cut-out from full-back Jake Blimka put Chris Anderson in with the score 10-0 in 10 minutes.
Two repeat sets from the kicking of Matt Boss saw Alex Prout snaffle up a chance to go himself and score before Lachie Lawson made it 20-0 after half an hour.
Rodney explained the quality start came from his side's professionalism in the build up to the game.
"The boys had a really good week and preparation and they brought it onto the field," he said.
"I thought the start was really good, energy was really good, completing really high then we started to go away from that for some reason and we let them back in."
After Lawson's try, Nyngan hit back through Cameron Bourke barging over the line after the Tigers ran on the last just before half-time.
Straight after the break, Sam Simmons capitalised on some beautiful passing to make it 20-12.
A sin-bin in the 52nd minute to Nyngan's Liam Brodrick saw the Tigers fight hard and allow no points.
The next try wouldn't come till the 76th minute with a break from the dangerous Sonny Knight bringing Nyngan into attacking territory with Mitchell William-Hedges going over.
In the dying stages, a held-up call meant Hawks finished with a nail-biting 20-18 victory.
They were coming to get us but our guys hung in at the death
- Shane Rodney
Nyngan captain-coach Jacob Neill was elated with his side's ability to stay in the game despite the early scoreline.
"We showed a lot of effort, we came out of the blocks pretty slow there today but I think it's a bit further of a trip than what's expected and that showed today," he said.
"We had a lot of pride in our jersey and our young boys that we've got the belief in this year, really fought to the end.
"To come up short from a 20-point deficit (we were) probably very unlucky - calls go against you but that's a part of football and you don't win them all. I felt we were really unlucky not to come away with two points today."
Neill added the fact his side kept Hawks scoreless with 12-men on the field showed there's some great attitude in the squad.
I felt we were really unlucky not to come away with two points today
- Jacob Neill
"We got ourselves together, that's what Nyngan is built on, you fight and hang in there," he said.
"We probably go better when we're against it, we need to be against it all the time, that's when we're at our best. We showed today when everything goes against us early on, we just fight, we hang in and scrap it. I couldn't be prouder of the boys and I just said that in the sheds and we'll keep on building, we're really here to put it to the other teams."
A real positive for Hawks was the ability to create pressure and Rodney was pleased with his side's short-kicking game and numerous repeat sets.
"It's a big thing (short-kicking), it went away in the second half unfortunately but that's the game," he said.
"Our halves are still relatively inexperienced together so they're trying to build on that and build pressure on teams.
"When we play teams like CYMS with Dan Mortimer he'll do that all day so the boys need to continually get better. It's only early in the year but if we progress each week that's all we want."
- Orange Hawks 20 (Lachie Lawson, Chris Anderson, Deryne McKenzie, Alex Prout tries; Jake Blimka 2 conversions) defeated Nyngan Tigers 18 (Sam Simmons, Mitchell William-Hedges, Cameron Bourke tries; Matthew Sheather 2 conversions)
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