The Magpies showed glimpses of their best in a 38-6 win against last year’s grand finalists and early premierships favourites Oberon Tigers at Sid Kallas Oval, bouncing back from a two point deficit early in the first half.

Magpies coach Steve Sutton couldn’t have asked for a more perfect start to year.

He labelled it an “excellent” performance, while, in contrast, Oberon Tigers coach Luke Branighan, who was sidelined due to a calf injury, said it was “really poor”.

“It was an excellent effort particularly the second half. I thought we were a bit scrappy in the first half we dropped a lot of ball and put ourselves under pressure,” Cowra coach Steve Sutton said.

“The second half I thought we completed really well. That was always the plan we thought with the heat if we completed our sets we’d get them in the back end of the game.”

It was a slow opening to the game as both sides showed symptoms of it being the opening round and dealt with the heat.

It took until the 13^th minute for the Magpies to open the scoring through winger Zac Browne, who only had to put downward pressure on a perfectly weighted Joe Bugg kick, but he was unable to add the extras.

The visitors hit back with Oberon’s Jack Dawes having an immediate impact off the bench, scoring from close range at dummy-half and Ben McAlpine converted for a two point lead after 22 minutes.

Cowra edged in front before the break when another Bugg kick was cleaned up by Josh Rainbow after being spilled by Tigers fullback Jackson Brien. Bugg converted for a 10-6 halftime lead.

The Magpies were outstanding in the second-half and were able to keep last year’s grand finalists scoreless.

Benji John laid on a try for Jeremy Gordon in the 42^nd minute before crossing for his own eight minutes later and Bugg kicked both to help Cowra race to a 22-6 lead just 10 minutes from the restart.

In the 65^th minute interchange forward Will Ingram was found by Gordon close to the line and crossed for Cowra’s fifth.

Then four-pointers to Blake Tidswell and Desi Doolan inside the final 10 minutes iced the 32 point victory.

Bugg had a good day with the boot kicking five goals from seven attempts.

While their attack was hugely impressive, Sutton spoke about how happy he was with the Cowra’s attitude in defence.

“We were talking about it with about 10 minutes to go when the game was in the bag that we wanted to keep them to the six. The attitude across the field was really good.”

Injured Oberon coach Luke Branighan said Cowra could have scored 10 or 20 more points and that he’s never seen his side “fall away like that”.

“It was really poor,” Branighan said.

“A lot of the tries were soft. We’ve had a good chat and I’m looking forward to seeing how the boys respond next week against Lithgow.”

He said he has full confidence in his players.

”We weren’t mentally tough enough. There’s no panic from me at all, the players have my support 100 percent.

“I saw what the side did last year. Probably no one expected us to make the grand final and I have a lot stronger side this year so there’s no panic stations. But no doubt a very disappointing performance and I feel for the Oberon fans who travelled over they deserve better than that.”

Branighan said he’ll most likely be back for Oberon’s round three match against Bathurst St Pat’s.

Cowra Magpies 38 (Zac Browne, Josh Rainbow, Jeremy Gordon, Benji John, Will Ingram, Blake Tidswell, Desi Doolan tries; Joe Bugg five goals) defeated Oberon Tigers 6 (Jakes Dawes try; Ben McAlpine goal).