A disciplined Mudgee Dragons side turned in a textbook team performance to defeat the Blayney Bears 54-10 at Glen Willow on Sunday.
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In their first home game since May 29 – with a bye and rain cancellations in the interim – the Dragons set the pace from the outset when Jack Afamasaga scored the first of his two tries within nine minutes of the starting whistle.
An uncoverted try by Deryne McKenzie was the only joy for Blayney in the first half of the match, with Rota Seta, Nathan Orr, Tim Condon and Jack Afamasaga running in tries for Mudgee in rapid succession.
Five conversions by Rota Setu took the score to 30-4 at half-time.
The Bears’ fortunes did not improve in the second half, despite an early try by Lawrence Fogg, converted by Lochie Hobby to take the score to 30-10.
Despite a determined effort, the Bears were unable to make headway against the Dragons’ defence, or to prevent Nick Harvey, Ben Thompson and Jack Beasley running in a further three tries.
Tim Condon added the final touches to the Dragons’ day when he passed to captain Jared Robinson and collected the return pass to run in his second try under the goal posts.
Rota Setu kicked a further four conversions in the second half, achieving nine-from-nine goal attempts.
Robinson said with both sides equal on the ladder, Mudgee had expected a tough game.
“We were confident of the win, but didn’t expect such a blow-out,” he said.
Robinson said Sunday’s win was the best team result this year for the Dragons, which fielded one of its strongest sides of the year.
“We haven’t a side this strong due to work and injury, so I hope we can start to work with the senior side and build momentum,” he said.
Robinson said the Dragons had focused on controlling the ball, discipline and maintaining possession. resulting in a match with few errors or penalties.
Mudgee will continue to work on these areas in the lead up to the match against Bathurst St Pats at Glen Willow next Sunday.
“We only got just got beaten by them in the first round, so we will definitely be looking to improve on that result,’ Robinson said.
It wasn’t all bad news for the Bears, though.
Their gun league tag outfit got the job done against the Dragons, winning 24-12, with tries to Sophie Stammers, Jess Toohey, Casey Edwards and a brace to Laura Funnell.
The Bears’ first division side won 32-12 over the Dragons while Mudgee ran out big winners in the under-18s, trumping Blayney 52-10 earlier on Sunday.