ORANGE City’s Blowes Menswear Cup premiership credentials were delivered a massive blow at Dubbo on Saturday, with the Kangaroos slaughtering the Lions 69-nil in the 2007 grand final replay.

The loss is City’s third on the trot, a statistic Lions coach Michael Gray will be desperate not to add to this weekend when his troops make the trek back to Dubbo to tackle Rhinos.

For the home side, major injuries to Nigel Roberts and Todd Stewart dimmed the mood in the camp on Saturday night.

Roberts was taken to hospital with a suspected broken leg and Stewart was in severe pain with a hamstring problem, while Geoff Koerstz was given an early shower suffering from the flu and a hand injury.

The injuries could not have come at a worse time for the Roos, with their showdown with Bathurst Bulldogs at Bathurst on Saturday.

Injuries apart, the Roos could not have done more against a game Orange City outfit to keep their unbeaten record in tact.

The game was less than a minute old when a charge down on the City line resulted in a try to Stu Denston. Ben Kidd scored the second five minutes later and the Roos were ahead 12-nil before the visitors had touched the ball.

City played their best football in the next 35 minutes but had only one scoring chance and then let themselves down after giving away a penalty.

Their tenacious defence frustrated the Roos but a converted try right on half-time saw the home side out to 19-nil at the break.

Gray at half-time conceded that the Roos were much stronger in the scrum and in the tight packages of play and wanted his players to avoid that confrontation.

“Avoid the short ball and set pieces, use the ball more and make their big forwards chase,” he said.

“Get stuck into them, be up in their faces and don’t let them dictate.”

Sadly for City that didn’t happen and with two tries in the first eight minutes there was a distinct feeling that the floodgates would open. It did as the score ballooned out with try after try.

In the end the Roos had scored 11 tries in all and it came about with brutal pressure through the forwards, with the likes of Lee Toohey, Stu Denston and the rest powering forward at every opportunity.

DUBBO KANGAROOS 69 (Ben Kidd 2, Rob Cleaver 2, James Skuthorpe, Stu Denston, Lee Toohey, Tim Berry, Dean Matthews, Todd Stewart, Will Martel tries, Berry 7 conversions) def ORANGE CITY 0.