IT was ugly and scrappy, but it was still two points after the whistle sounded.

St Pat’s somehow overcame 15 errors to get the better of the Mudgee Dragons 34-22 in their Group 10 premier league meeting at the Sportsground yesterday.

In blustery conditions the Saints made it three wins from four to start their season in a stop-start encounter that contained 27 errors and 15 penalties in total.

Jack Mackey was a standout for St Pat’s, picking up both a brace of tries and a stack of metres, in what was otherwise an unconvincing performance from the blue and white.

“We completed 50 per cent in the first half and I think about 60 per cent in the second half. We need to get that close to high 70s or 80 per cent if we want to compete with the big sides in the comp,” St Pat’s coach Kurt Hancock said. 

“We’ve got to show a bit more hurt when we make a mistake or give the ball away. At the moment we’re just turning around and it’s not hurting enough. 

“I thought Jack Mackey was awesome today and Brady Cheshire added a bit of spark to the middle as well. It was good to see the middle work extremely hard and for the majority of the game we controlled Mudgee really well there. Rhys Frame did a great job on their centre who has scored seven or so tries in the last two games.”

Dragons coach Tony Pascoe was left bitterly disappointed after his side had come into the match on the back of two big wins and the competition lead.

“There was just a lack of enthusiasm from us today. I can’t put it down to anything else,” he said.

“Pat’s were more enthusiastic than us. I think both sides know they didn’t play their best footy, but the other mob wanted it more. Our middle wasn’t strong today and that’s been the best part of our game over these first two games. Today we were lacklustre and at half-time you could see that their attitude wasn’t right.”

It took just a minute for Pat’s to get on the board after the game’s opening set.

A Garry Reilly kick out to the right wing produced a favourable bounce for the Saints’ Tyson Medlyn who then dished the ball out to Tony Clevin to score under the posts. Reilly made a 60m break through the middle of the Dragons defence only for a forward pass to end the attacking set on a low note.

The Dragons replied at the 12th minute with a big line break of their own as Rota Setu dashed a similar distance down the field, only to be stopped by a Tim Collins ankle tap.

Travis Winanara couldn’t grasp a grubber kick at the end of the next set and the Dragons’ Hamish Bryant scooped up the loose ball to score by the uprights.

After the teams exchanged several handling errors Winanara found himself a more positive moment when he barged over from close range to put Pat’s up 12-6 a quarter of the way through the game.

That started the best 10 minute period of the match for the Saints, who then found tries through Collins and Mackey.

The Dragons earned two penalties in a row to take them up to the Pat’s line, and five-eighth Zac Adams ensured his team would take a 22-12 deficit into the break.

St Pat’s hooker Hudson White left the field injured two minutes into the second half and both sides continued to cough up the ball like their life depended on it.

It took until the 54th minute for Pat’s to break the scoreless run when Benjamin John spun off two defenders to score.

Dragons centre Rotu responded just moments later to keep the Dragons just two converted tries off the pace.

Mackey gave Pat’s a 34-16 lead with 13 minutes still to play and the Dragons’ response through Ethan Butler came with less than four minutes on the clock, too late to change the outcome.

ST PAT’S 34 (Jack Mackey 2, Tony Clevin, Travis Winanara, Tim Collins, Benjamin John tries; Clevin 5 conversions) defeated MUDGEE DRAGONS 22 (Hamish Bryant, Zac Adams, Rota Setu, Ethan Butler tries; Setu 3 conversions)