Riverina defies fade out for winning start to Country Championships

The Bulls took a 16-0 lead into half-time of their clash with Macarthur Wests Tigers at Camden on Sunday before it soon evaporated.

After dictating terms in the first stanza, it only took 22 minutes to things to level up.

However coach James Luff was impressed with how the team responded to take a 22-16 victory.

"I was really impressed with our first half - we were unbelievable I thought and really worked them over with some great ball playing from Nathan Rose on the left hand side and we scored some good tries out there," Luff said. "Then there was a great pass from Latrell Siegwalt to put Hally (Nic Hall) over in the corner so we went into half-time and everything was just positive but we came out in the second half and just left it in the side.

"The first 20 or 30 minutes of the second half we just got into an arm wrestle with them, didn't complete and really let them back into the game.

"It was the real downfall of the game but we showed a lot of resilience to get back and fight hard with the win."

Riverina took advantage of having Macarthur's winger Hamish Oxley sin binned for a professional foul as Josh Ayers and Daniel Foley scored.

Hall then gave them a 16-0 lead when he planted the ball down with four minutes left in the first half.

Riverina then conceded two tries in the opening seven minutes of the second half before Macarthur was able to level things up.

It spurred Riverina into action and with 17 minutes remaining they turned down the chance to reclaim the lead through a simple penalty goal attempt to go for the bigger prize.

It paid off as Latrell Siegwalt finished off a nice play by Rose.

With the margin only four points, the Tigers were then denied a try under the posts for a double movement with five remaining before replacement forward Jayke Hogan forced a winger into touch after he had broken out of two tackles.

Luff thought Hogan was one who made a real impact on the game in the second half.

Riverina extended their lead through a penalty goal but after being unable to control the short restart had to diffuse a desperate late charge.

In the end Siegwalt put his body on the line to dive on a loose ball in the in goal to hold on.

Luff is hoping they can build on the display when they host Illawarra South Coast, the team who knocked them out of the title race last season, at Laurie Daley Oval on Saturday.

"It was crucial as we have a very hard side of the pool and have to win games to make it through," he said.

"We didn't have the for and against we could have had but to get the win is the main thing and hopefully we can build for a big game next week."

Jake Elphick was an unused replacement after being drafted into the team for Chris Latu but the Bulls look to have come through the clash unscathed.