Taking on Western at Forbes on Saturday, the Laurie Daley Cup side conceded the first 36 points of the clash.

While they responded to win the second half, coach James Smart admitted there is plenty to improve on for the under 18s side after the 42-16 loss.

"We are all disappointed after all the work we put in that we didn't get an opportunity to show what we could do," Smart said.

"We knew Western would be a good side and they showed they are a good side.

"They made the most of the opportunities we gave them and we will need to be a lot better."

Western crossed three times in the first 10 minutes.

It was part of a period where the Bulls failed to complete one tackle.

"It took us 13 minutes before we'd even played the ball in the game," Smart said.

"A couple of errors on play one early and we just didn't defend it.

"We just didn't have the ball and even in the first half when we did have the ball because we were tired from the work we had been doing and with our backs against the wall we didn't do anything productive with the football either."

Riverina didn't fair much better in the Andrew Johns Cup with Western taking a 32-4 victory.

Coach Ben Mott was left to rue a poor period either side of the half-time break, but isn't too disappointed with the performance.

"We didn't get off to the start that we wanted," Mott said. "We were pretty poor with our ball security, and didn't give ourselves too much of a hope really."

Western scored twice in five minutes leading into the break before scoring again right after half-time to skip clear.

Both sides now head to Penrith on Saturday to tackle the Panthers in round two of the competition.

However there was better news for the under 23s team in their trial against Western.

Jody Rudd's side scored their second straight trial win as they continue their preparations for the start of the series.

The senior side and the women's tackle come in the fourth round of action when Riverina plays host to Illawarra at Equex Centre on March 7.

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