BATHURST Bulldogs' second grade side maintained their unbeaten status with a victory in Saturday's Blowes Cup major semi-final, but not before being pushed to the extreme by a determined Orange Emus side.
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Bulldogs survived a late surge from the visitors to come away 25-18 winners at Ashwood Park and book the first spot in this season's grand final, to be held at the same venue in two week's time.
The hosts got out to a 15-3 lead at half-time on the back of two Ryan Mawhood tries and extended the margin to a daunting 17 points with a try early in the second half.
That proved to be a decisive buffer for the Bulldogs as both sides picked up two tries each in a much more evenly contested second half of football.
Bulldogs centre Mawhood said it was exciting to come away with a brace on a big occasion.
"That was unreal," he said.
"That's only my second double ever, so it's a pretty great feeling."
Mawhood said it was the ideal sort of win to earn to get into the finale.
"They really gave it to us today. That wind really helped us in the first half but it was tough going for us in the second," he said.
"A game like that is everything you want from the team - grit, determination and the boys sticking together. It was unreal.
"I feel like we swung it wide and got around them a couple of times which really helped us. They were up in our faces the entire time and that hurt us in the forwards, but our scrum pushed them over towards the end."
Emus fullback Ben McNiven said it was a tough effort from his team, and that they should use pieces of the match as a blueprint for their upcoming preliminary final.
"The big thing is that we've still got a platform that we can build upon. I think when we've got two thirds of the team turning around saying 'We can do better' then that's a pretty good place to have ourselves," he said.
"We tried but we just have to set ourselves back up and go again next week.
"Full credit to them. They've got some guys out there who can really turn a game and a couple of old heads out there with a bit of experience, like Scott [Johnston] and Tonk [Phil Tonkin], who showed their class."
Emus picked up the first points of the game when McNiven kicked a penalty in the sixth minute but they'd be the greens' only score of the opening half.
Mawhood scored a try on each side of the uprights to capitalise on a strong period of play for the hosts before the break, and a Phil Tonkin penalty for the Bulldogs added to the margin.
Bulldogs scrum half Angus Peck scored quickly after the break to put Bulldogs into a dominant position but Emus picked up two tries in quick succession to keep the hosts on their toes and get the margin back to just five.
Both of those came from prolonged pressure built up through repeat phases near the Bulldogs' try line, with substitutes Michael Kennedy and Charlie Henley crossing for the tries.
Scott Johnston managed to get into space and find Phil Tonkin in support to score a crucial try and push the gap out to 10.
Emus opted to take a penalty shot inside the last 10 minutes to get the margin back to a converted try and despite their continued push for more points the Orange men came up just short.
Meanwhile, Orange Lions prevailed in a similarly close third grade contest over the Bulldogs.
Lions appeared to be running away with the contest when they shot out to a 19-0 lead in the first half.
Bulldogs mounted an impressive fightback to make it 24-all before a penalty for the Lions pushed things back out to what would be the final score of 27-24.
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