Tough day out in the heat for Riverina representative sides

After their two female sides entered the fray at Laurie Daley Oval on Sunday, the Bulls have now won just one of their 10 games this season.

Riverina scored a win to start their Andrew Johns Cup campaign but haven't been able to add to it since.

The open women got off to a horror start to the Country Championships after suffering a 68-6 loss to Western.

The Bulls were their own worst enemy with ill discipline helping the Rams up the field and from there they found plenty of ways to score points.

Western had scored five tries, all coming off the back of penalties, before the Bulls were able to complete a set.

They trailed 36-0 at half-time and despite Milly Lucas crossing midway through the second half, things didn't get much better for the Bulls.

After winning three of their four games last season, coach Craig Blackhall knew things would be different after so many changes in personnel.

However he still wasn't expecting the blown out score.

"They (Western) were pretty good, they ran hard all day, played fast but I reckon the penalty count was seven nil after 20 minutes and once you get on the back foot and the other side gets on a roll it is hard to turn around," Blackhall said.

"Especially when you haven't got the troops for it."

Things don't get any easier for the Bulls when they tackle Monaro at Equex Centre on Sunday with Sophie Gaynor and Ivy Merlehan both away while Emily Banks picked up a knee injury in the last two minutes.

Monaro were the only team Riverina couldn't beat last season.

However Blackhall is confident they can regroup.

"The girls will show up next week and still give it a crack," he said.

"They will come out to play as so many of those girls wouldn't have ever seen a score like that put against them."

Riverina's introduction to the Lisa Fioala Cup was also a tough one.

The under 17 girls started off well with Ella Semple scoring off a Jayda Cook kick to answer two early tries from Western.

However their more experienced rivals soon took advantage in the heat.

After leading 24-6 at half-time, Western nine more tries in the second half to take a 74-6 victory.

Coach Damian Willis was expecting a tough clash but believes it will be a good learning experience.

"These girls have only been together for six weeks and haven't done a lot of fitness together or trained a lot together and you could tell," Willis said.

"They started the game quite well, and were really competitive, but as the heat started to come out of the sun the girls struggled a little bit."

To make matters worse they had two of their better players in Cook (collarbone) and fullback Jaida Lyons (head knock) sent to hospital.

Riverina started the day with a tough loss for their under 16s.

After a winning start, the Bulls have now lost four straight games after slipping to a 44-12 loss to Newcastle-Maitland.

Things weren't much better in the Laurie Daley Cup with the under 18s side suffering a 46-18 loss to the Knights.

All five sides, including the men's, will tackle Monaro at Equex Centre on Sunday.