AFTER scraping through in their Central West Rugby Union first grade elimination semi-final last Sunday, the Bathurst Bulldogs are out to spring an upset against the Orange Emus at Endeavour Oval this Sunday.

A close 20-18 win at home over the Forbes Platypi last Sunday kept the Bulldogs’ season alive. The Bathurst outfit will need a similar defensive performance, if not a greater one, to hold out an Emus team not lacking in size if they wish to avoid elimination once more.

The first grade minor semi-final will be the highlight of a testing day for the Bulldogs in Orange, with all three of the club’s senior grades trying to take down the Emus on their home turf.

Bulldogs claimed the win over the Emus back in the opening round of the competition at Ashwood Park with a come from behind 35-26 victory, but the tables were turned in a 15-6 triumph to the greens at Endeavour Oval in June.

Bulldogs co-coach Scott Johnston said if Sunday’s semi-final is anything like that last contest, his team can expect a physical match.

“That match we played last time at Endeavour Oval against the Emus was the most physical game of football we’ve played this season by a fair margin. They put a lot of defensive pressure on teams and that’s something we’ve got to be aware of when in attack. Our backs also needs to step up and provide our forwards with support,” he said.

Johnston is of the opinion that if his team can not produce a similar brand of rugby in terms of defence to what they displayed against Forbes, then they will be making an exit from the finals. They will also need to step up their attacking efforts and reduce simple errors.

Emus, who finished the regular season in second place with just two losses in 18 games, head into the match after going down 35-29 to Orange City in last Saturday’s qualifying semi-final.

“I don’t think it was one of our best games, but we held on tight in defence. Obviously we will have to play a lot better now. We can’t give Emus the possession that we gave Forbes. Enthusiasm was probably the thing that we lacked most, but that’s something that’s easy enough to fix,” he said.

“It was a funny game because we always felt like we were in control, but we could never do anything to put it away. Our set pieces were probably our strength and they have been now for about the past six weeks.”

The Bulldogs have encountered a major setback ahead of the must-win match, with representative number 8 Hayden Tidswell ruled out with a knee injury he sustained 15 minutes into the Bulldogs’ match against Forbes.

Alistair Fryer will be asked to fill that position, but it is a role he is accustomed to playing with Tidswell having been absent on several occasions this season with representative duties and injuries.

Mark Donnelley returns after missing the Forbes match and will fill Fryer’s vacant role at flanker instead of re-joining the front row. Tom Joseph is also back in the squad and will start on the win.

The match is set to kick off at 3.15pm on Sunday.

BATHURST BULLDOGS: 1 Chris Plunkett, 2 Peter Fitzsimmons, 3 Andrew Donaldson, 4 Lachlan Bull, 5 Izaak Breen, 6 Mark Donnelley, 7 Oliver Crowe, 8 Alistair Fryer, 9 Tom Hollis, 10 Steven Locke, 11 Josh Lees, 12 Alex Weal, 13 Jack Roberson, 14 Tom Joseph, 15 Phil Tonkin.