Bulldogs were bested 36-22 by home side Cowra Eagles in Saturday's clash to send the Bathurst club back to the drawing board ahead of a tough meeting with competition leaders Forbes Platypi.

Not surprised by the victory after a win the weekend before over Orange Emus and a first round loss to the Forbes Platypi, Cowra coach Col Kilby said the Eagles are still "starting to build" into the pattern of rugby they want to play this season.

"We we've still got combinations coming together and we had a lot of players out today," he said.

Saturday's victory was even the more impressive in light of the fact 15 players were missing from the player list across the two grades for the Eagles on Saturday.

The injury and unavailability list did however give two players, Hayden Cummins and Blake Tidswell, the opportunity to make their top grade debuts, both shining in a dominant Eagles forward pack.

"We had a lot of players out in the club today, it was pleasing that the players we had stepped in," Kilby said.

Cowra dominated possession and territory in the first half on Saturday and time and again backed themselves to score when offered the opportunity to add to the score board through penalties.

The tries didn't come but in the second half the early pressure exerted by the Eagles took its toll and the points began to flow.

The second half effort made even more impressive by the fact the Eagles added two tries with half Fergus Carney in the sin bin for 10 minutes.

Navitali Bola starred for the Eagles backline, crossing for three tries.

"It was the same (in the loss) at Forbes," Jeffs said of the Eagles first half performance.

"To beat (Bulldogs) that was a good win today, they've been the benchmark and a bit of a bogey side for us," he said.

The Eagles were thumped 33-8 by Forbes in round one.

"We were short of a run at Forbes, we didn't play last year, we just needed more game time, each week we've been spending more time sticking to our play, " Kilby added.

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