A RAMPANT first half of rugby took the Bathurst Bulldogs to a 58-7 win at home in their Blowes Clothing Cup meeting against Forbes Platypi on Saturday.
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Having dropped their first points of the season against Orange Emus a week earlier the Bulldogs returned to Ashwood Park determined to make a strong start to the next contest.
That they did, blowing out to a 32-0 lead and securing a bonus point before the half-time whistle.
An altercation 10 minutes before half-time between Forbes' Adrian Cole and Bathurst's Dylan Carter saw the former shown red and the latter given a yellow card.
A second yellow for Carter in the second half returned the game to level numbers over the final 15 minutes.
The disruption put a dent in the Bulldogs' momentum but they still managed to outscore the Platypi across a scrappier second half of action.
"Off the back of last week we wanted to put in a good performance. When you play against Forbes you've really got to take it to them in the first 10 to 15 minutes and we certainly did that," Bulldogs captain Scott Johnston said.
"Forbes had a fair percentage of the ball in the second half but we saw how potent our wingers are, in regards to Phil Tonkin and Buzz Webber setting up plays and scoring some long range tries.
"Our retention of the ball was terrific this week. That's something we needed to fix up. Our enthusiasm was also great."
The warning signs were present early on for the Platypi when a Joe Nash try and a Will Oldham conversion had the Bulldogs up 8-0 after 15 minutes.
Bulldogs tore the Platypi apart through the middle of the park, with Ben Sheppeard and Bertie Linnell tries coming off the back of their forwards' relentless pressure.
Those tries and another Oldham penalty gave the Bulldogs a 25-0 advantage before Cole and Carter began exchanging blows near the clubhouse sideline.
The home side managed to score in the 14-on-14 situation when Harry Peacock was put into space two minutes before the break.
Play become more back and forth over the opening 15 minutes of the new half, but it was still Bulldogs doing the scoring at the end of that period when Carter found a try.
Platypi were quick to bring the ball back into the Bulldogs' territory and just as they looked to have the hosts outnumbered Joe Nash swooped in with an intercept and raced 95 metres down the field to score his second try of the day.
Forbes finally got themselves on the board after nice footwork from Blake Ridges gave him a try between the uprights.
Bulldogs took themselves past the half century mark with a pair of late tries.
A barnstorming run from Phil Tonkin helped set up Harry Webber for a try and Oldham crashed over for a converted try after the final whistle to take his personal tally to 23 points.
Bulldogs will remain at Ashwood Park for next Saturday's contest against the Dubbo Kangaroos.