THE Bathurst Bulldogs won a gripping local derby on Saturday at University Oval, beating CSU 28-24 in their Central West Rugby Union first grade showdown.

Chasing their first derby win since 2012, CSU did everything they could to break the recent dominance of their cross-town rivals. It didn't happen, but the students could consider themselves unlucky in some respects not to get the result.

Having trailed for most of the first 75 minutes, a try to Cameron Plummer in the left corner and the conversion by Kurt Weekes put Bulldogs in front by four.

However, in a final thrust the students found themselves on the attack about 30 metres out from Bulldogs' line.

Fullback Cam Backhouse kicked to the left corner where he was hoping to find Will Sears, who had been sensational on the wing for the hosts.

All the ball needed to do was sit up anywhere in a mile of space between Sears and the try-line. But it took a cruel bounce and the moment, and subsequently the match, was lost.

"The one good thing out of that game was that we stuck to our guns and what we spoke about at half-time," Bulldogs co-coach Brian Roberson said.

"We didn't panic, we stayed patient and confident in our own ability to work our way back into the game and that's what happened.

"I expected a tight tussle, but to be honest, I didn't think it would be that close. I thought we'd be dominant in a lot of areas, but CSU were outstanding - especially in broken play."

Bulldogs deserve credit not so much for their 80 minute performance, but their ability to seize the moment when it arrived.

They had territory on their side early, but were caught by surprise when Chad Ashton backed up a superb offload from five-eighth Jack Keppel to open the scoring. Backhouse's conversion gave CSU a 7-0 lead.

Weekes got his side on the board with a penalty goal, and an unconverted try soon after to Sean Fogarty briefly put the Bulldogs in the lead.

But from the back of a scrum, Paul Lasalo got CSU's second try and Backhouse added the extras to give his side a 14-8 buffer. Then as Bulldogs flanker Brendan Nelson was given a 10-minute spell for tripping, the students boasted a numerical advantage as well.

On half-time Backhouse had a long-range shot at a penalty after being taken out late by Sam Roberson, but it was waved away.

Soon after the restart, Hugh Brooks produced a brilliant play as he charged down a Jack Roberson kick and pounced on the rebound to score CSU's third. The alarm bells were ringing for Bulldogs at 21-8, which was soon 24-8 after a Backhouse penalty.

Sam Roberson kept his team in the game with a try from close range and at 24-18, Weekes had two chances to cut the margin further with long-range penalty attempts.

But he missed both kicks, the second of which hit the middle of the cross-bar and bounced back into play.

A telling point came when Jack Roberson avoided a penalty for not releasing the ball in a tackle, and a down field penalty went to his side a moment later instead. That saw Weekes cut the margin to three points.

Backhouse had a chance to respond but missed a kick from directly in front only 20 metres out.

As the final whistle began to loom, Bulldogs launched a raid down the right edge through Bart Bogart and Tyson Smith, but a desperate tackle from CSU jolted the ball loose.

Unfortunately for the students, the resulting scrum saw them lose possession and from the ensuing play Plummer scored the match-winning try.

"This is hopefully the sort of win that can kick-start our season, a good, tough hit-out," Brian Roberson said.

"Next week we can hopefully consolidate against the Rhinos and get things going.

"I thought Izaak Breen, Jono Healey and Sam Roberson all played pretty well for us, but we had a lot of good contributors."

BATHURST BULLDOGS 28 (Sean Fogarty, Sam Roberson, Cameron Plummer tries; Kurt Weekes 2 conversions; Kurt Weekes 3 penalties) defeated CSU 24 (Chad Ashton, Paul Lasalo, Hugh Brooks tries; Cam Backhouse 3 conversions, Cam Backhouse penalty)