Regional Focus | The Daily Advertiser

CENTURIES are normally reserved for cricket season but when the Bathurst Bulldogs put the pedal to the floor they make them happen in winter as well. An under strength Parkes Boars side were towelled up to the mind-boggling scoreline of 123-17 at Ashwood Park on Saturday, as the Bulldogs showed no signs of mercy in their run towards Blowes Clothing Cup finals. Harry Webber had a field day on the wing as he collected a sizeable haul of five tries for the Bulldogs. Adam Miles picked up a hat-trick at fullback and Justin Mobbs managed the same feat from the interchange. Izaak Breen found his way onto the try scorers list in his 100th first grade appearance. The 19 tries to two victory keeps Bulldogs within a point of Forbes Platypi and Dubbo Kangaroos as the race for second spot heads towards an exciting conclusion. Parkes opened the scoring on Saturday thanks to an intercept try but outside of a penalty it would be their only impact on the scoreboard in the opening half. Bulldogs ran out to a 59-10 lead at the break and, remarkably, managed to better that effort with the ball in the second half. “The work ethic from the guys was fantastic. Having guys like Chris Plunkett, Josh Oxley, Izaak Breen and Sam Roberson back in the team made a huge difference,” Bulldogs co-coach Nathan Pearce said. “Peter Fitzsimmons was by far our best on ground and Brad Glasson at 10 – in for Scott Johnston – was fantastic. Gives us some selection headaches now. Dylan Carter had an excellent first half and I thought Brendan Nelson had one of his best games of the season. “Our breakdown work was a little bit sloppy, and that’s something that won’t be good enough against sides like Forbes and Emus.” Pearce was quick to praise the efforts of the visitors, who have suffered a huge blow to their finals ambitions. “It think it was more a case of Parkes not being present than us being strong. There were nine Parkes players out … but I want to stress that the guys they had out there never stopped trying the whole game,” he said. “Guys like Joe Nash and Johnny Rathbone kept trying no matter what.” Bulldogs colts were the only other Bathurst side to get a run at the ground on Saturday, running out 58-8 in a similarly dominant performance.

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