New Holland Agriculture Cup: Undermanned CSU thrashed by Mudgee Wombats, Corin Smith scores four tries

And that's what faced CSU in Saturday's New Holland Agriculture Cup clash against Mudgee Wombats when they were wiped off the park 74-5.

The defending premiers received front row tickets to the Corin Smith show as the Mudgee Dragons recruit stormed across the line four times in the opening half to set up the victory.

CSU, down a player, were forced to take part in uncontested scrums for the opening term and it gave Wombats an extra man to use out wide.

Smith was often the beneficiary of that overlap but even a full strength CSU team would have struggled to contain the Mudgee league star on top of his game.

Mudgee racked up a half century against the defending premiers in the opening half with the numbers advantage.

CSU coach Peter Plunkett said with low numbers the trip north was always going to push the team to its limit.

"They took full advantage of the situation and they were clinical. We had to have eight guys in the scrum, which meant they had an overlap, and they were able to execute against that perfectly," he said.

"We were more or less just chasing them around the paddock and watching what they were doing. Due to the interruptions in our preparation we just weren't up to it.

"I can't fault our guys' effort. Mudgee allowed us a full compliment for the second half ... and it was a much closer game after that, but we have a lot of areas we need to go back and have a look at."

CSU held the Wombats to two tries in the opening 15 minutes but once Lachie Morse crossed for the first of his two tries it opened the floodgates.

Seven tries in just over 20 minutes put the game to bed before half-time.

CSU will take heart knowing that their side was greatly undermanned and that they can lift their game going into the second round of matches.

"It's disappointing but there were positives. We didn't get any bad injuries out of this game and we should have players back into first grade next week," Plunkett said.

"The guys that were put up into first grade also put a great effort in. Mudgee were just very well drilled and unfortunately we had to spend a lot of the day just watching them play football."

CSU will be chasing an improved back half of the season after picking up just one win over the opening round, leaving them fourth.