It was cold, slippery and scrappy, but at the end of the 80 minutes it was still mission accomplished for the Bathurst Bulldogs as they beat Central West Rugby Union strugglers Mudgee 36-0 at Ashwood Park on Saturday.

The Wombats were better than what they produced against the Lions – beaten 118-5 a week earlier - and pilfered their share of ball at the breakdown.

But in truth they were lucky not to have lost by more given the amount of times Bulldogs knocked-on when in a prime attacking position.

“It was scrappy. We could have done a lot more than that, but it was just scrappy everywhere by both sides. At the breakdowns there was no control,” Bulldogs coach Shane Cantrill said.

“They did put a bit of pressure on us in defence for about five to seven minutes there and I thought our defence was really good. That was a good aspect for us, but other than that it was scrappy.

“That ball was slippery, I don’t know how many knock-ons there would have been today. It was just cold and slippery as and not good control-wise.”

For much of the opening quarter of the match the Bulldogs were camped deep in the Wombats’ 22 metres, but some poor passes and knock-ons meant their territorial dominance was not reflected on the scoreboard.

It took 22 minutes for the hosts to finally open their account, prop Chris Plunkett driving over after his side took a quick penalty tap around four metres out from the line.

The conversion attempt from Alex Weal was taken from out wide and made even more difficult by a swirling cross-field breeze, his effort missing the mark to leave the score at 5-0.

But that effort lifted the Bulldogs and in the final 10 minutes of the half ran in two more tries. Number eight Hayden Tidswell, who caused the Wombats’ defence headaches through the contest, dragged three defenders over the line with him for the first before Steve Locke palmed off a would-be tackler and slotted through.

Weal managed to convert Locke’s try to give his side a 17-0 lead at the break.

The first 10 minutes of the second stanza was Mudgee’s best for the match as they threw phase after phase at the Bulldogs’ line. 

Flanker Sam Schmidt got close as he charged onto an inside ball, but the home side were resolute in defence.

After absorbing this pressure it was Bulldogs who dominated and while they again saw tries go begging, they still managed to make sure they picked up a bonus-point win.

With Wombats prop Dave Birch sitting on the sideline after being yellow carded for a second ruck offence, the Bulldogs crossed for try number four via Tidswell. 

He was in again soon after and Locke converted to make it 29-0.

Though Tidswell blew a chance to finish with four tries when he knocked on trying to ground the ball under the sticks after making a charge from the rear of a Bulldogs scrum, 90 seconds later team-mate Tom Hollis was over.

Locke sealed the win with the following conversion. 

Mudgee coach Justin Sutherland did see positives in the 36-point defeat but knows his side must sustain their attacking pressure for longer periods if they are to earn a second win.

“We’ve just got to try and somehow manage our peaks and troughs so to speak. One moment we are attacking but then we are back defending,” he said.

“We are short on players out wide which is our biggest problem. Our forwards were strong and steady as they always are.

“But that was more of a team performance unlike last week which was just a debacle with 13 players and most of them having played the game before.”

In other Blowes Clothing Cup results, Orange Emus defeated Cowra 55-0, Orange City Lions were too good for Narromine 28-20, Forbes edged out Parkes 21-15, Dubbo Kangaroos trumped CSU Bathurst 33-5.

BATHURST BULLDOGS 36 (Hayden Tidswell 3, Chris Plunkett, Steve Locke, Tom Hollis tries; Alex Weal, Steve Locke 2 conversions) def MUDGEE WOMBATS 0.