WHEN injuries and unavailabilities force a coach to totally rework a starting line up more often than not it is reflected on the scoreboard, but when it comes to the Bathurst Bulldogs it is a different story.
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Instead of having positional changes having a dramatic negative impact, the Bathurst Bulldogs women adapt and overcome.
It is why the Bulldogs are undefeated through seven rounds and averaging more than 30 points per game. It is why the Bathurst side was able to post a 53-0 win over an improving Cootamundra on Saturday.
"We are really lucky that we have got girls who can play in forwards and in the backs. If we get an injury we can rework our line up. I don't think we've ever played the same line up twice," Bulldogs skipper Mel Waterford said.
"This week we had unavailabilities and we reworked our whole line up. We put a couple of forwards in the back line and had a couple of backs in the forwards, it worked really well.
"We all train the same drills together so it doesn't matter where you get put, the girls know all the moves whether they are in the backs or the forwards.
"We didn't have our faster players, but we still had that pattern of play where we were able to make the breaks down the sides and up the middle with our bigger girls off-loading."
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While Cootamundra had a squad of around 20 players to draw on for the match, the Bulldogs made the long trip to the Cootamundra Rugby Club with 12.
It meant they played a 10-a-side format match, but there were still contested scrums and line-outs.
Bulldogs scored three tries in the opening quarter and by half-time led 29-0. From there they went on with the job to earn another bonus-point victory.
"We were probably a little bit slow in the first five, but then we were pretty good after that. We got our groove together," Waterford said.
"But that was just more about having different combinations again this week and warming into the game.
"Once we got a few big hits on, we were right then. We had to work for it, they had some bigger and stronger girls in the middle.
"But we were very solid in defence, I though our defence this week was really good, it was something we had worked on."
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While Cootamundra was well beaten and remains in 12th on the ladder, Waterford said the future is looking good for them.
With strong numbers and as a result exposure to contested set pieces, they will continue to step up their skill levels and gain valuable experience.
"They are improving and they've got one girl down there who has played Central West before. They've had some closer games with some of the teams who are a bit more competitive, so they are not getting flogged every week," Waterford said.
"Their inexperience probably just let them down a little bit. While they were strong in the middle, they just didn't take the opportunities sometimes on the wing and didn't have the speed to get around us."
