In what was the matchup from last season's preliminary final that never went ahead, Macpherson took five wickets, his best haul in first grade, as the Bulldogs destroyed their Orange rivals by 131 runs at Wade Park.

And it could've been even better for Macpherson, had he not dropped a "pretty easy" catch from his own bowling.

Before Saturday's match, Macpherson's best ever club figures was a three-for, which he's achieved in each of the last five season, so understandably he was pretty happy to get a five-for.

READ MORE:

"I think the closest I've ever got is a three, but nothing like that, that's for sure," he said.

"In my last over a dropped a pretty easy caught and bowl, so I could've got six.

"Obviously getting five individual wickets is something I've always wanted to do but I've never really been that kind of bowler that would take more then three or four. I'm the kind of bowler that gets two wickets in the eight overs.

"At the other end I had Jez [Jeremy Thackray] bowling really tight and I just followed on with what he did. Orange had to lift the run rate and that's what brought some loose shots."

The hosts won the toss and sent Bulldogs into bat, with the visitors notching up 9-214 off their 40 overs.

Imran Qureshi, who opened alongside Macpherson, topped the scoring with 43 while Fletcher Rose tried his best to restrict the Bulldogs batting order, taking four wickets.

The Orange City batting order never really got going, with Macpherson doing major damage to the Warriors middle order, dismissing Blake Weymouth (19), Shaun Grenfell (11), Fletcher Rose (three), Brett Causer (six) and Jarryd Seib (two).

It's an impressive start to the season for Rugby Union, now having won the two matches they've played, with the round two and three matches against Cavaliers and Centennials Bulls washed out.

Macpherson, who was also playing his first game of the season on Saturday, said the the club has set the benchmark high.

"We kind of set ourselves a pretty good benchmark last season," he said.

"We've carried that kind of mentality over to this year. We know what we're capable of and every returning player and every new player has taken on that responsibility in setting that team standard."

Rugby Union is now currently third on the ladder, with St Pat's Old Boys and Cavaliers in first and second respectively.

There will now be two rounds of two-day games in the lead up to the Christmas break.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: