RUGBY UNION
By MICHELLE COOK
CENTRAL West has sounded a warning to their fellow Caldwell Cup contenders after a solid 52-13 win over New England on Saturday.
The Blue Bulls will play in the Caldwell Cup semi-finals at this weekend's NSW Country Championships in Belmont after winning Saturday's qualifying match in Orange.
Much of the game was evenly matched, but the Blue Bulls were able to capitalise on their opportunities to record a 39-point win.
Central West co-coach Warren Petty was impressed with the consistency shown from his side right through to the bench players.
"This year we've got 25 blokes and they're all good. There's good depth," Petty explained. "All our set pieces went really well and our back line lifted today."
After winning all four trial matches, Central West went into Saturday's game as favourites and they lived up to the expectations.
Bathurst's Jono Cody opened the scoring for Central West after New England lost their line-out in their own 22m and the Blue Bulls sent the flanker over after repeat phases.
Central West led 31-8 at the break thanks to tries from Narromine winger Scott Burgess, fullback Luke Harding and Bathurst winger Tim Kaufusi.
New England captain Michael Te Moana also scored the first of his two tries when he charged up the blindside and crashed over the try line.
Burgess scored one of the most entertaining tries of the day early in the second half when Central West made a break and sent the ball left to the winger.
With the defence closing in, he chip-kicked ahead, Harding ran through and gathered then passed back outside for Burgess to finish it off.
Te Moana scored his second minutes later when, after repeat pressure, he stormed down the left side and dived over in the corner.
Bathurst’s Paul Miller, who played a strong game in the centres, put Narromine’s CJ Smyth over later in the game before CSU second-rower Nick Hughes-Clapp ran 60m to score the Blue Bulls’ final points right on full-time.
“I’d put it down as a team effort,” Petty said of the Central West performance.
“We’ve got a few things to take from this game, there’s a few structural things to fix up. Other than that we’re just going to have a team run on Wednesday night ready for the boys on Saturday.”
New England co-coach Jason Lincoln said his side would take a lot of confidence into the Richardson Shield semi-finals this weekend despite their loss to Central West.
“I thought that our forward pack matched [Central West] in many areas today,” Lincoln said.
“I felt that our defence close to the ruck was very good and I thought our set piece was competitive, which was a real goal. From that aspect I was very happy. I think we have a bit of work to do in our defensive structures but if we can improve our defensive structures, I think we can be competitive.
“Full credit to Central West. They’ve obviously prepared well. They’ll be a real threat to the title.
“From our perspective, we’ve come and seen where the best rugby’s at and the fact we were competitive, we’ll walk away with our heads held high.”
The Blue Bulls will train at Molong on Wednesday night where they will assess injuries to prop Haemani Lavaka (dislocated toe) and fly-half Anthony Begg (ankle) before the championships.
CENTRAL WEST 52 (Scott Burgess 2, Jono Cody, Luke Harding, Tim Kaufusi, Chris Smyth, Nick Hughes-Clapp tries, Scott Burgess 5, Chris Smyth two conversions; Scott Burgess penalty goal) defeated NEW ENGLAND 13 (Michael Te Moana 2 tries, Luke Perry penalty goal).
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