Donning the original chocolate brown Wombats’ jersey for ‘old boys’ day, Mudgee ran out 25-5 winners over Coonabarabran Kookas and capped off a wonderful day of celebrations - 135 years in the making - for the home side.

A hard, strong game was what the crowd was after and that was exactly what they got as a determined Kookas’ outfit manhandled and pushed the competition leaders like no other team has been able to do this year.

Wombats’ captain Adam Rayner said he was relieved to come away with the bonus point victory.

“It was a very tough game... they were very strong in the forwards,” he said.

It seemed Mudgee were shocked into action as the Kookas’ forward pack dominated parts of the scrums and the breakdown.

Fortunately Mudgee’s immovable defensive line proudly stood tall and restricted the Kookas’ movement.

“Our defence on the fringes [at the breakdowns] was better this week... we really did well,” Rayner said.

The first five minutes of the match was all Coonabarabran as they dominated possession and territory but that was soon reversed as Wombats’ winger Carlos Rahme scored his first of two tries in the ninth minute following a great backline move.

Ill-discipline from both sides forced referee Adam Mort into action as tensions between the two sides started to escalate.

Mudgee goalkicker James Young added three points from a penalty but a beautiful length-of-the-field try from the restart, which show- cased Mudgee’s great support play, put the Wombats 13 points in front at halftime.

Three minutes into the second half and Mudgee scored their third through Rahme after a great lineout win.

Moments later Kookas’ flanker Oliver Stone caught the Wombats’ defence napping and scooted down the sideline to give the visitors their only try of the match.

Both sides failed to capitalise on their chances in the second half as penalties and handling errors were consistent.