ORANGE Emus gave the perfect illustration why they will be contesting this year’s Blowes Clothing Cup finals while CSU will miss out as they posted a 60-5 win over the students on Saturday.
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Playing at University Oval, both teams enjoyed a good amount of possession. But when Emus had the ball, it was clear to see why they have been defeated just once this season.
They cleaned out well at the breakdown, out-muscled CSU in scrums, ran much better lines in attack and strung together more phases.
Emus finished with 10 tries – six of which came in the second half – as they showed their strength across the paddock.
Wingers Tom Green and Carter Hirini both picked up a first half brace, while flankers Andrew Cosgrove and Andrew Selwood, halfback Sam Green, number 8 Scott McLean, centre Nigel Staniforth and replacement Jayden Norris all crossed in the second period.
“CSU are a good side, they are no easy pushovers, so for us to score 50-60 points against a side like that is really pleasing,” Emus coach Paul Ringland said.
“The breakdown was a big focus for us today. CSU teams always compete hard at the breakdown and we just knew we had to be on our game there and throw plenty of numbers in.
“We were good enough to hold our own ball and we were able to score points off the back of that.”
While Ringland “could not be more pleased” with the way his men played, CSU skipper Cam Backhouse was nowhere near as satisfied.
Too often CSU opted to play laterally rather than taking on Emus up the middle and when spreading the ball, it often went to ground instead of onto the chest of a fellow student.
“We started off alright, but it just feels like this last month we haven’t been able to execute anything,” Backhouse, who toiled at fullback, said.
“Every time we made a break we’d lose it, every time we had the ball we just panicked.
“Full credit to Emus, they have good defensive line and when they have everyone on the same page it is pretty hard to complete four of five phases against them.
“We did have a bit of the ball, but I think it was only about 10 minutes that we actually competed I reckon.”
CSU’s only try of the match came seven minutes into the second half when a smart cut-out pass from flyhalf Jack Keppel created an overlap that Lachie Robinson took full advantage of.
His try made it 27-5 after Emus had led 22-0 at the break.
Five minutes later CSU looked like they were in again when Robinson chipped and regathered before finding Backhouse in support.
But the play was called back for a forward pass and from that point onward, it was all Emus.