The Dubbo Rhinos have made it two wins in a row with a convincing 41-7 victory over the struggling Mudgee Wombats on Saturday.
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The Rhinos were full of confidence after beating CSU before the Easter break and backed it up in convincing style.
It capped a good day on and off the field at Caltex Park for the Rhinos. It was also their ladies day and it raised more than $500 for the Pink Angels charity.
Incredibly, it was nil-all after 39 minutes but the Rhinos scored right on half-time to lead 5-0 and ran in another six tries in the second half to ensure one bonus point.
Mudgee scored a consolation try right on full-time to deny Rhinos a second bonus point but that didn’t worry Rhinos coach Dave Stuart.
“It was tight in the first half and Mudgee played an excellent game of footy really but our guys stuck to what we have been trying to do at training,” he said.
“We made a bit of room for ourselves and let our fast guys get into space which is what you aim to do and managed to score some good tries.”
Wombats coach Tony Muller said he hoped his team would be more competitive against the Rhinos and said his side had a lot of work to do.
“We had enough ball in the first half to make something of it. I think we were trying to rush things too much,” he said.
“They were fitter than us and were able to capitalise on their speed and they deserved it totally.”
Mudgee made the stronger start and found themselves inside their opponents 22 on several occasions during the open 20 minutes but failed to make it count.
Both teams struggled to hold onto the ball but the Rhinos broke through on the stroke of half-time, through fly-half Harris Solomon to take the lead.
He missed a penalty soon after the break but that mattered little when bustling prop Javarn Nofoagatotoa broke through the defence and scored.
It opened the floodgates with winger Sione Hafika, scrum-half Collin Hokianga and Scottish import Ross Gilmore all crossing.
Ricky Weatherall rounded out the match with two more tries, the last coming after a barnstorming run from Nofoagatotoa from inside his own 22 over halfway before putting the centre in space.
Mudgee were rewarded for their effort with Lee Sandberg going over in the corner on full-time and James Ford nailing the difficult conversion.
Hafika left the field with a knee issue late in the match but Stuart hoped he would be right in a fortnight for the match against Orange City.
