THE Mudgee Dragons have advanced to the third week of the Group 10 finals after an entertaining minor semi-final victory over the Blayney Bears at Glen Willow Sporting Complex on Sunday.

Known for their tough defence and disciplined structure, the Dragons took a leaf out of the Bear’s book yesterday, throwing the ball wide and offloading on a regular basis.

Mudgee captain Jared Robinson was pleased with the 34-24 win, and happy his side found the line six times after a tough, low-scoring loss the week before.

“We’re really happy with the win, we keep going now,” he said.

“There was two quality sides out there today who were happy to throw the ball around so there were a fair few points today.

“Todd (Munn) was carrying a bit of an injury today but he toughed it out and I thought when he came on in the second half today he really gave us another dimension.

“We’ll lick out wounds now an hopefully keep the same side on the park next week.”

The Bears showed their hand early, spreading the ball at every opportunity, the kind of play that had made them a handful for opposition sides all year.

It was the Dragons who drew first blood, however, striking through Todd Munn who sprinted 30 metres from broken play to touch down in the corner.

The home side were in again five minutes later through Zac Adams.

The young utility, this week filling in at centre, was able to slip past some would-be tacklers for an opportunistic try.

The Bears needed to be the next to score and did through William “Bubba” Kennedy.

The centre received a great inside ball from Steve Lane, the half-back making the most of a retreating Dragons defensive line after a Blayney line break.

With the Bears’ tails up, the Mudgee forwards went to work and rumbled up the middle, earning their side excellent field position from which they capitalised.

A second man play between Demetrius Ainuu and Jeremy Lang opened up space for Jeff Wright who strolled over for his first of the afternoon.

Justin Gossage converted for a well-earned 16-6 lead.

Wright was in again five minutes before the break, some quick hands finding space down the right side of the Blayney defence, an area the Dragons were clearly targeting.

Just before the break however, Blayney got a crucial try through Terawhiti Cooper to cut the lead to 10.

The Dragons came out in the second half complacent, failing to complete several sets in the opening 10 minutes and giving away some soft penalties.

That resulted in a Blayney try to Will Ingrim, which reduced the margin to four and put all the momentum in the Bears’ favour with 30 minutes to play.

The Dragons hit straight back through Robbie Clarkson who found himself in space, the big prop ignoring the speedsters outside him to crash over to give Mudgee some breathing space once again.

The tit-for-tat scoring in the second period continued when Blayney went over through Jessie Nixon.

Poor discipline continued to plague the Dragons play, a string of penalties landing Jack Scurr on report before the Bears made the most of some back-chat to lock up the scores with a penalty goal.

Both teams then battled for field position and control of the game, Jeremy Lang and Terry Brown both missing field goals for their respective teams.

However it was the Dragons who proved the coolest under pressure.

Two penalty goals to Justin Gossage and a try to Todd Munn sealed their place in next week’s grand final qualifier.

MUDGEE DRAGONS 34 (Todd Munn 2, Jeff Wright 2, Nathan Orr, Robbie Clarkson tries; Justin Gossage 5 goals) def BLAYNEY BEARS 24 (Jessie Nixon, Steve Lane, Will Ingram, Terawhiti Cooper tries; Cameron Dennis 4 goals)