AN all-in brawl, which saw two players from either side sent off, overshadowed CSU's 53-31 New Holland Agriculture Cup victory over hosts Dubbo Rhinos on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Players from all corners of the field got involved in the scuffle 20 minutes into to match, which saw CSU's Anthony Nougher and Kam Norris plus Rhinos' Chris Sellings and Andrew Seton shown red by referee Brandon Kreymborg.
CSU continued to see red later in the half when Matt Dalton was sent off for a separate incident while two yellow cards also came out across the course of the game.
The students fought hard to win in the 12-against-13 situation, surviving a late surge from the Rhinos to win an open, almost position-less, match.
However, the brawl overshadowed the end result.
CSU centre and skipper Jack Keppel said the five absent players turned the game into something he'd never seen before.
"It's probably the weirdest game I've ever been a part of and I know the Rhinos boys thought it was pretty crazy as well," he said.
Keep up to date with the latest sports news by clicking here.
"We just managed to hang on. They had a big second half charge ... but we scored a few more tries and held on well.
"It was almost like we had no positions. All the backs had to start doing what the forwards were normally doing and all the forwards had to start doing the things the backs normally would.
"There was so much space and we didn't know what to do with it. There were pretty much no rucks. It was just about moving the ball to space quickly."
The match descended into a battle of outlasting fatigue and utilising space as Aiden Kennelly and Harry Hunt both scored doubles for CSU, with the students racking up nine in total.
CSU will have to regather in a hurry as they prepare for this Saturday's top-of-the-table meeting with the Narromine Gorillas.