IT was a "high five" for Hayden Topliss as the Scone Thoroughbreds fullback grabbed a handful of tries in the side's 58-0 drubbing of the Singleton Greyhounds at the weekend.
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Three "meat pies" in the first half, followed by a double in second, capped off a dominant performance in Bengalla Hunter Valley Group 21 Rugby League.
The big scoreline completed a successful day for the home teams who secured three wins and one loss.
The first 20 minutes of the top grade was a close affair and it appeared Scone was in for a tough game.
There were plenty of errors in the opening stanza by both teams, which wasn't helped with penalties also favouring the opposition.
It was Topliss who crossed for his first try for an easy Jake Watts conversion, which broke the initial deadlock.
It was the start of what was to become a regular occurrence with the fullback adding the next two for a hat-trick and Dan Ritter crossing in the 35th minute.
Watts converted all but one as the Thoroughbred led 22-0 at the break.
Joel Harrison started the tryscoring seven minutes into the second half, touching down under the posts.
Ritter then managed his second soon after, followed by Topliss for his fourth.
Harrison recorded a double, with Ryan Hawkshaw getting in on the act, too.
Topliss finished the tryscoring spree in the last minutes of the game.
Watts kicked well, converting all second half tries for the final 58-0 scoreline.
Coach Aaron Watts was very pleased with the team's effort.
"We had to dig in for the first 20 minutes and didn't help ourselves with mistakes and poor discipline," he said.
"However, once we managed some momentum, we held the advantage all over the field to the end."
Scone's reserve grade continued its good form recording a 24-4 victory over Singleton.
There was little between the teams in the opening half with the Thoroughbreds going to the sheds with a narrow 6-0 lead thanks to a Ben Fechner try and conversion.
The second period saw the match open up somewhat.
However, Scone had to work hard throughout.
Tries to Aiden Edwards, Brady Curry and Jake Bailey, which were all converted, suggested a big lead may be on the cards.
But, Singleton managed the last scoring for the day midway through the second half.
"We had to work hard for the win, which we knew would be the case beforehand," coach Jade Smith said.
"We often have different team line-ups and today was no different.
"Full credit goes to the lads for putting in a sound performance in both attack and defence."
The under-18s were matched against the table leaders and, while they went down, the youngsters put in a solid performance.
The Greyhounds enjoyed an 8-0 advantage at the break.
The second half saw Singleton cross for another two converted tries before the Thoroughbreds finally got on the board.
Daniel Smith touched down with 12 minutes left on the clock.
Richard Riley also crossed in the dying stages for the final 18-8 scoreline.
Coach Chris Brennan was optimistic about the match.
"That was a much better effort than the last time we played," he said.
"Once again, however, we allowed our opposition to gain the lead and we have to be more disciplined and switched on from the opening whistle."
League tag saw the undefeated Throughbreds record a strong win over the Greyhounds 42-4.
Tries to Amelia Sturman and two to Sofie Casson in the first half, one of which was converted, provided a 14-0 lead at the interval.
The locals doubled their tryscoring efforts in the second with Casson adding her third for the day, Sam Elphick touching down and Coral Hagan crossing for a double.
Singleton scored its only try with 10 minutes to go, prior to Flynn Haggarty going over soon after.
Elphick also converted another four goals to have 14 points against her name for the day.
Coach Sofie Casson wasn't getting carried away with the victory.
"There are always things that we can improve on and today was no different," she said.
"It was a good effort overall, however we won't be taking any teams easy."
Five of the Thoroughbreds' squad also represented Group 21 on the Friday night before the weekend games.
Casson, Rebecca Hill, Haggarty, Georgia Watts, Sophie Hinde and Elphick all lined up for matches against Group 4 and 19 in Tamworth.
Casson, Hill and Haggarty were subsequently selected in the Greater Northern Tigers team to play in the Country Championships at Glenn Inness in a fortnight.
