Bathurst Bulldogs beat Orange City but miss Blowes Cup minor premiership on points differential

In beating Orange City 26-0 at Ashwood Park on Saturday, Bulldogs drew level on 59 competition points with Cowra.

But Cowra's 7-5 win over Emus was just enough to see them finish with a better for and against than Bulldogs - there was only three points in it - and secure hosting rights for the major semi-final.

Bulldogs co-coach Dean Oxley felt it was hosting rights his side could very well have snatched, but they did not adjust to the wet and slippery conditions.

Despite spending almost the entire second half camped in Orange City's territory, a combination of determined Lions defence, knock-ons and unforced errors meant that dominance did not translate to more points.

"Not the way we wanted to go into the finals, conditions impacted both teams, but we probably got a little bit excited about what we were trying to do out there," Oxley conceded.

"We pushed the long balls. We try to play our shape no matter the conditions, but we also need to respect the football and that's a lesson from today.

"It was maybe a little bit rushing the game slightly instead of letting the game come, but we couldn't maintain possession for any more than two or three phases and that was the issue."

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While Bulldogs didn't quite do enough to leapfrog the Cowra and Saturday's display wasn't their finest, Oxley is still happy with his side's effort so far this season.

"All credit to the boys, we've had a wonderful season and whether we are minor premier or not I'm proud of what we've done," he said.

"They're a young side and they're only getting better."

While Orange City finishes the season without a win, captain Kieran Bonin was proud of the way his side defended against Bulldogs.

That Bulldogs, who put 43 points on the Lions at Ashwood Park earlier this season, only scored their fourth try in the dying minutes was a testament to the tenacity of City.

"I'm very impressed with what we did today," Bonin said.

"Last week against the Chooks [Emus] the game was a blow out, so we really wanted to have a strong first half.

"They only scored two tries in the first half and they were through the guts which was a bit disappointing, but we were pretty happy with that half. With half to go I thought we were still in it.

"We had a lot of scrums today too, the last few scrums we only had seven versus eight and we still held them off. Bulldogs have one of the best scrums in the comp so that fact we held them off was pretty good."

While Bulldogs at times lacked execution in the round 15 match, there was no lack of effort from the likes of number 8 Alex Weal plus front rowers Matt Trapp and Tom Felsch, who took a huge amount of carries. Scrumhalf Kurt Weekes also toiled to try and play up-tempo rugby.

It was Weal who scored the opening try in the ninth minute, darting off the back of a Bulldogs scrum and busting through the Lions' defence.

Trapp doubled the advantage with a classic front rower try seven minutes out from the break, driving hard and low over the line. Weekes added the extras to make it 14-0.

Bulldogs did create other opportunities during the first half, they found space on the edges more than once, but they just couldn't apply the finishing touches.

The Lions had their moments of missed opportunity too.

Twice when given a penalty, the kick which followed that should have secured them an attacking line-out deep inside Bulldogs' 22 failed to find touch.

The visitors also had the frustration of hooker Darcy Holmes - who pulled off some excellent tackles during the contest - being yellow carded for a ruck infringement.

The card came just before half-time, but Bulldogs couldn't score then or before Holmes re-entered the game in the second stanza.

There were some impressive Bulldogs moments in attack - one featuring a ball from Brad Glasson that put Ben Sheppeard into space and went through Adam Plummer's hands before finding fullback Joe Nash who was tackled inches short of the line.

However, in the main things did not flow.

Plummer finally charged over off a scrum with 13 minutes to go and then Sheppeard scored at the death to secure a bonus point.

But it was not quite enough to give Bulldogs top spot.

"City were always going to compete today, we've had hard games with them all year," Oxley said.

"They can play football, they're a good side and they're coming back.

"To get the fourth try at the end there was very pleasing, it gave us an opportunity, but we have to be a lot better than that if we are going to contend in this competition.

"We know we can play a lot better, but the players out there, I believe they have to communicate a lot better so we can combine as a team."

While Cowra will host Bathurst in the grand final qualifier, the minor semi-final will be between Emus and Dubbo, the Roos scraping in thanks to a 33-31 win over Forbes.

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