RUGBY UNION
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ACROSS the first and last 20 minutes of their Central West Rugby Union clash with Orange Emus on Saturday, CSU bested their fancied rivals 12-5.
However, what happened in between wasn't so rosy.
The visitors ran in nine tries to two in a 64-12 thrashing to pile on the misery for the students at University Oval, Emus backing up their potentially season-defining win over Bathurst Bulldogs last week.
"We were a little bit scrappy early on and probably didn't start with the intensity we needed, and we got a bit of a wake-up when CSU scored an early try," Emus co-coach Graydon Staniforth said.
"From then on we started to stick to our guns. We didn't push the passes too much and after that first 30 minutes we scored three quick tries into the break and that put us well clear.
"Last week was a big result for us to get that win over Bulldogs. The real spine of our side in TJ Cunynghame at halfback, Adam Perri at five-eighth and Nigel Staniforth at inside centre were all there and it made a huge impact.
"To come out and back it up this week was a nice result, we weren't too complacent which was good to see."
Right winger Carter Hirini starred for Emus with three tries as well as a couple of other breaks, while number 8 Alo Finau was damaging any time he had the ball.
Initially it was CSU with the ascendency as their own number 8 Michael Thompson went over following a mistake between Emus' back three from a kick. The students clung to their 5-0 lead for the first 15 minutes.
However, a turnover in their own half gave Emus a good chance to level up and they did that through Finau. Though Nigel Staniforth's kick missed, the momentum had visibly shifted.
A few minutes later, former CSU lock Nick Hughes-Clapp stormed across for his team's second try.
With their confidence growing, the Orange team ran in a third moments later to make it 19-5 as Hirini proved far too quick.
CSU's defence in the middle wasn't so much of a problem, but any time Emus took the ball to the edges, the hosts looked in trouble.
Approaching half-time, Finau scored his second as Emus' scrum drove straight over CSU's try line. On the whistle they made it five tries in 25 minutes with Hirini's second.
Trailing 31-5, CSU needed to be first to score after the break to be any chance of winning. However, their fate was sealed by Emus half James Simmons who crossed almost immediately.
Perri and flanker Andrew Cosgrove helped themselves to tries in the minutes that followed, before Hirini made it a hat-trick on the hour mark.
Emus were scoring at close to a point a minute at that stage and a massacre was on the cards, but CSU did mount some good resistance and picked up a second try through prop Jack McKenna.
But it was a day where a lot went wrong for the students. On top of the fact that their opponent was in top form, poor handling accentuated their problems in trying to compete.
Filling in at hooker, Nick Dutton was impressive for the home team while playmaker Cam Backhouse tried hard as did Thompson and Tom Greenaway.
"They are a strong team all across the park and we were going to be up against it no matter what," CSU coach James McLaren said.
"It is a carbon copy of some of the other games. We stuck at it which was pleasing, but it is just disappointing to see the way we downed tools near half-time and let them get on that big roll.
"We try and play fast tempo football but our fitness doesn't always let us maintain it.
"Our scrum stood up better today, we've had Dave Conyers up helping out a bit this week which made a bit of a difference."
ORANGE EMUS 64 (Carter Hirini 3, Alo Finau 3, Nick Hughes-Clapp, Andrew Cosgrove, James Simmons, Adam Perri tries; Nigel Staniforth 7 conversions) defeated CSU 12 (Michael Thompson, Jack McKenna tries; Cam Backhouse conversion)