DUBBO'S highly-touted forward pack came to the fore on Saturday as the defending Blowes Clothing Cup champions racked up 10 tries in a 60-5 demolition of CSU Bathurst at No.1 Oval.
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The Roos' engine room supplied eight of those five-pointers, including three to skipper Shaun McHugh who racked up his hat-trick inside the opening 40 minutes.
The big No.8's first-half trifecta was backed up by tries to prop Peter Graham and flanker Simon Hegarty as the Roos headed into half-time in control with a 29-0 lead and the four-try bonus point locked up.
With the forwards dominating it was only time before classy fly-half Simon Murphy started to weave some magic and his flashes of brilliance were rewarded in the early stages of the second half when he played a leading role in a play that ultimately saw winger Vince Williamson cross.
While they were being soundly beaten on the scoreboard, CSU remained involved in the contest to the point where they were twice reduced to 14 men for 10 minutes.
Half Josh Gemmell was doing his best to find space for his quick outside backs but time and again their possession close to the Dubbo line was thwarted by errors.
The Roos' went on to add four further tries through flankerEli Kinscher, back-rower John Korff, fullback Moa Karivaeta and replacement forward Dan Armitage before the Students got some consolation right on full-time through flying fullback James Tooth to leave the final margin at 55 points.
For McHugh, the win was the reward for his side's best performance of the season and one that gets them right back in the mix in the battle for the top five.
"Our forwards have been pretty good all year but we just haven't been getting the reward as a team," McHugh said.
"Today I thought the backs were really good. They had room to move and they weren't trying to score all the time.
"They were going to ground and allowing us forwards to get in there and do our job. It was a good team effort."
For CSU, they will go back to the drawing board and try to improve on their record of one win from six matches so far in 2015.
"You'll probably come up with a headline about the Students being schooled, or taught a lesson, and that's about right," CSU coach James McLaren said.
"But it's a lesson I think every rugby player gets taught at some stage.
"We came up against a side with a very strong forward pack and when we showed a weakness in that first scrum they got a taste and just dominated after that.
"But I'm working with a good bunch of young lads. They stuck in there and were rewarded with a try at the end.
"It's cold consolation but it's a reward and their spirit is good so we'll keep going along and try to help them improve their game and hopefully get some more wins as the season goes along."
Dubbo will look to extend their two-game winning streak when they travel south to Forbes next Saturday, while CSU's draw doesn't get any easier as they're faced with a trip to Orange to face Orange City.
DUBBO KANGAROOS 60 (Shaun McHugh 3, Peter Graham, Simon Hegarty, Vince Williamson, Eli Kinscher, John Korff, Moa Karivaeta, Dan Armitage tries; Charles O'Connor 3, James Mata 2 convs) def CSU Bathurst 5 (James Tooth try)
