THE Bathurst Bulldogs will attempt to string back-to-back wins together for just the second time this Central West Rugby Union season when they play host to competition strugglers the Dubbo Rhinos tomorrow at Ashwood Park.

The Bulldogs posted a comeback 28-24 win over Bathurst rivals CSU last Saturday and will start as hot favourites to notch up another win tomorrow given the Rhinos are yet to earn a point in their return to the top-level Central West competition.

As has often been the case for the Bulldogs this season, their starting XV  has been shuffled as the coaching staff continue to search for their strongest line-up.

Former coach Scott Johnston has been given the flyhalf role after playing most of his recent rugby in the centres.

Bulldogs co-coach Brian Roberson expects Johnston to direct play well.

“Scott played the game against Mudgee at inside centre, but this week we’ve swapped around the 10 and 12,” Roberson said.

“We’re trying to get a bit more width for our attacking backs and Scott’s a very good director. It’s not really a position he’s played much in for the last couple of years.”

Sam Roberson will return to inside centre, while the man who occupied that spot last week, Josh Lee, moves to the wing.

Ollie Barclay slots into the second row to replace the injured Adam Dwyer, while Tyson Smith will start on the wing.

Roberson hopes those changes will help his men produce a more consistent brand of rugby than what they have exhibited over the past fortnight.

Bulldogs started slowly before putting on 20 unanswered points to get themselves across the line against CSU last week to  take their win-loss record to three and three.

Roberson wants to see his Bulldogs start in more positive manner against Rhinos.

“It was definitely a close call for us last round. Hats off to CSU, who outplayed us for the first 50 minutes. They were strong in the breakdown and they’ve given us plenty of lessons in being more positive with our structure,” he said.

“The way we played against CSU was certainly an improvement on the way we played against Parkes [a week earlier], so we need to continue building on that.

“Rhinos are a bit of an unknown quantity for us. From all reports they are decent at the breakdown, so we’re going to have to be very disciplined there.”

Kick-off at Ashwood Park is 3.15pm.

BATHURST BULLDOGS: 1 Chris Plunkett, 2 Mark Donnelly, 3 Sean Fogarty, 4 Izaak Breen, 5 Ollie Barclay, 6 Jono Healey, 7 Brendan Nelson, 8 Peter Fitzsimmons, 9 Kurt Weekes, 10 Scott Johnston, 11 Josh Lee, 12 Sam Roberson, 13 Bart Bogart, 14 Tyson Smith, 15 Jack Roberson.