Back to the drawing board for Riverina Bulls after second half fade out

After their first winning start in the competition's history, Western powered away from the Bulls at Cowra on Sunday.

Only four points separated the teams at half-time before Riverina conceded the next five tries.

Coach Ben Mott thought some poor defensive errors really told in the 34-12 loss.

"I think a lot of it just came back to very costly individual errors or misses," Mott said.

"I think every missed tackle in the second half or poor read led to a try.

"It just comes down to those individual concentration moments or efforts as the scoreline really let us down as it probably wasn't a true reflection of how we played but more a reflection of our errors."

Cootamundra second rower Josh Harris scored both tries for the Bulls.

Riverina had the upper hand in the first half but went into the break trailing 10-6 after being held up over the try line three times.

However their errors proved costly in the second half.

It's something Mott is looking to address before their final road trip of the competition.

"Every time we made an error in defence it seemed to lead to a big break or a try," he said.

"We just had some poor moments.

"It's a hard loss and a big lesson to learn heading into the Tigers, who won't be any easier."

After a 24-20 win over Western in round one, Macquarie only conceded two points in their 24-2 win over North Coast.

Mott not only wants to see an improved defensive effort but a calmer approach to their attack.

"We were very predictable so we need to fix that and Wests didn't allow any points on the weekend except a penalty goal so we will need to be better," he said.

Meanwhile there was almost a repeat of last week's Laurie Daley Cup fixture.

After things got away from the under 18s team in the second half against Illawarra South Coast, again Riverina struggled to keep the pace at Cowra.

Western led 24-0 at half-time and while Brayden Fejsa-Sexton got one back for Riverina, the Rams crossed for the next three tries before Lachlan Cole went over for a consolation effort in the 40-12 loss.

They will need to regroup against the unbeaten Tigers on Sunday.