While the Dubbo Rhinos returned to the Blowes Clothing Cup last season both clashes against the local rivals were lopsided results in favour of the Roos.

On Saturday night, under lights and surrounded by a bumper crowd at No. 1 Oval, the Rhinos threw everything at the Roos and trailed just 3-0 after a bruising first 40 minutes.

But the Roos was the more polished and disciplined of the two sides and two second half tries and some outstanding defence ensured the hosts retained the Mark Melville Cup.

Roos coach Dean Matthews said his side didn’t help itself in the first half with handling errors continually halting any momentum built but was still pleased to make it four wins for the season.

“They probably check when the season starts and circle these two games against the Roos and that’s their grand finals and full credit to them, they played well tonight but we were lucky enough to get the win,” he said.

“I think we didn’t really stick to the gameplan. We probably got caught up in the nitty-gritty out there a bit too much but at the same time the most pleasing thing was keeping them to nil.

“We didn’t leak any points and we didn’t look like leaking any.”

Rhinos coach Dave Stuart agreed his side had little chance to make an impact on the scoreboard but was still pleased with his side’s effort in defence.

The likes of Javarn Nofoagatotoa and Teina Huia muscled up in defence all match but sometimes went too far and the former’s yellow card late in the match was an example of the ill-discipline which plagued the back and golds at times.

“It would feel better if we’d got up and won but I thought at half time our def was fantastic and for the full 80 minutes really, our defence at the end was still going alright,” Stuart said.

“But they probably had the better field position in the second half and capitalised on it so good luck to them.

“I think a few people probably thought it would be a blow-out and it was good to put the pressure on them.”

There were few scoring opportunities in the first 10 minutes with it quickly becoming a physical battle but a Hamish Gordon penalty on 15 minutes opened the scoring.

The Roos struggled for consistency for the rest of the half with the Rhinos’ defence holding firm through the middle and out wide.

Push and shove broke out 10 minutes before half time as simmering tensions boiled over but that was the only real action before the break, despite the best efforts of Roos’ standout forwards Brad Pugh, Monty Hicks and captain Sam Clements.

“The boys were pretty confident at half time and knew it was only their mistakes keeping them (Rhinos) in the game,” Matthews said.

“We thought if we went out there and tried to tidy a few of those things up we could put some points on.”

It didn’t happen immediately but it did happen for the Roos with Clements scoring the first try off the match from the back of the scrum after some sustained pressure.

Clements went close to scoring again only minutes later as the Roos began to ramp up the pressure.

The class of the hosts shone through with the Rhinos not given a sniff of scoring and Billy Sing scored inside the final 15 minutes to seal the win.

DUBBO KANGAROOS 20 (Sam Clements, Billy Sing tries; Hamish Gordon conv, 2 penalties) defeated DUBBO RHINOS 0