After winning its opening eight matches, CSU's strong start to the 2019 New Holland Cup season has come to an end.
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Beaten heavily by Narromine 50-10 on Saturday, CSU slipped to second on the ladder after the loss as the Gorillas took first place.
Played at the Gorillas home of Cale Oval, it was apparent that Narromine were a much more physical side than CSU according to coach David Conyers.
"The moment after Narromine came out of the sheds and started warming up, we all looked at each other and said to each other, 'Holy crap'," he said.
"They were a much more bigger and physical side that came to Bathurst two months ago. They've obviously had some people come back from injury and we got monstered.
"Grown men against boys is exactly how it panned out.
"I haven't gone away to Narromine with two many victories. They just grow a leg out there with the whole town behind them."
Jack Keppell and Oscar Nicholson scored the only tries for CSU, on a day when the side lost its hooker Sean Pianca just before kick-off.
"Our hooker pulled out minutes before kick-off with a knee problem," Conyers explained.
"We used him for a few brief parts in the game, but his knee was stopping him from running properly. That consequently ruined our line-out.
"We got in good attacking positions with line-outs but I think they scored three tries from our miss throws 20 metres out from their line."
Conyers also said his side also struggled to hold the football, with Narromine dominating its phases
"I reckon we had about 25 per cent of possession for the match," he said.
"There were probably six or seven times that Narromine ran 15 phase possessions. That's how good they are at recycling the ball.
"There were glimpses of hope for us though. We did score two really good tries and we had two tries we could've scored. We could've come away with a bonus point with four tries, but it was one of those games."
With six games remaining, Conyers said its important for his side to pick up bonuses in all of the remaining matches, in the lead up to playing Narromine again in the season.
"Luckily we've got to play them down here in Bathurst for the third round," he said.
"A bonus point there [against Narromine] and providing we get bonus points for the rest of the year, we can still get that first place and a home semi.
"But we've got to pick our game up and come up with a game plan that can overcome that size factor with Narromine."
- NARROMINE GORILLAS 50 (Tim Allworth 4, Jakob Brennan 3, Craig Campbell tries; Doug Potter 4, Carlos Nykolyn conversions) defeated CSU 10 (Jack Keppell, Oscar Nicholson tries)