A GLOOMY start to the Central West Rugby first grade season got a bit darker for CSU when they were kept try-less in a 34-3 loss to the Mudgee Wombats on Saturday at University Oval.
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The result leaves the students stranded winless on the bottom of the ladder, while last season’s strugglers Mudgee are looking competitive with two wins from their three matches.
The only dent the students could make on their side of the scoreboard was a Cam Backhouse penalty that came not long after Mudgee’s opening try to make it 7-3.
Everything following was forgettable football for the home side.
CSU coach James McLaren praised Mudgee’s efforts and was not pleased at all with the way his side approached their offensive game.
“I think it shows where we’re at. It was as much a mental game as a physical one. It’s back to the drawing board after a very disappointing result,” he said.
“Don’t take anything away from Mudgee, though. They played very well with some handy players. They’ve got a great backline that they’re utilising a lot more compared to their performances from last year.
“We’ve worked hard on trying to create a rigid defence and creating tries off that, but when we’re leaking 30 to 40 points a match it shows the defence isn’t working either. It’s going to be a very long season unless we can turn it around.
“There were a couple of moments of poor discipline which ended some runs of possession and you could see the heads go down after that. It’s a hard one for the club to take.”
McLaren believes almost every area of the game will need improvement if better results are to come his team’s way, starting with fitness.
“Giving away the size means we’ve got to be playing sharper and faster and with their current fitness I don’t think they’re up to that yet,” he said.
“There were moments where we could have been back in the game earlier on, but we gave it away and they scored twice quickly off that and that was that.”
It was a pair of hat-tricks to Rupert Sheridan and Rota Setu that gave Mudgee the runaway win. Both Josh Cookson and Tom Lewsly supplied conversions.
The match was a consistent one for Mudgee, who spread their points out evenly across the two halves.
Mudgee coach Neil McDonald sang his team’s praises.
“We’d done a lot of work on our defensive structures during the week. We got that right and it showed,” he said.
“I think having that penalty against us kicked us into gear a bit.
“The boys worked hard for the whole 80 minutes and that’s what pleased me the most.
“We were a bit down on ourselves after last week, so the boys worked hard to turn it around.”
MUDGEE WOMBATS 34 (Rupert Sheridan, Rota Setu 3 tries; Josh Cookson, Tom Lewsly conversions) defeated CSU 3 (Cam Backhouse penalty)
