The Cowra Eagles are flying high after their 36-22 win over Bathurst Bulldogs at the club's Hartley Street ground on Saturday.
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Not surprised by the victory after a win the weekend before over Orange Emus and a first round loss to the Forbes Platypi, coach Col Kilby said the Eagles are still "starting to build" into the pattern of rugby they want to play this season.
"We we've still got combinations coming together and we had a lot of players out today," he said.
Saturday's victory was even the more impressive in light of the fact 15 players were missing from the player roster across the two grades for the Eagles.
The injury and unavailability list did however give two players, Hayden Cummins and Blake Tidswell, the opportunity to make their top grade debuts, both shining in a dominant Eagles forward pack.
"We had a lot of players out in the club today, it was pleasing that the players we had stepped in," Kilby said.
Cowra dominated possession and territory in the first half on Saturday and time and again backed themselves to score when offered the opportunity to add to the scoreboard through penalties.
The tries didn't come but in the second half the early pressure exerted by the Eagles took its toll and the points began to flow, especially out wide with the allusive Bola dominating.
The second half effort was made even more impressive by the fact the Eagles added two tries with half Fergus Carney in the sin bin for 10 minutes.
Bola starred for the Eagles backline, crossing for three tries.
"It was the same (in the loss) at Forbes," coaching director Col Jeffs said of the Eagles first half performance.
"To beat (Bulldogs) that was a good win today, they've been the benchmark and a bit of a bogey side for us," he said.
The Eagles were thumped 33-8 by Forbes in round one.
"We were short of a run at Forbes, we didn't play last year, we were short of a run, we just needed more game time, each week we've been spending more time sticking to our play, " Kilby added.
"We've still got a bit of work to do on today."
The Eagles sat out the 2020 season due to COVID-19.