It was the big Bendigo forwards hitting it up on the fringes of the rucks which laid the foundations for the victory.

Prop Nick Poingdestre and lock Jesse Tuitupou each scored two tries as they repeatedly made inroads into the Deniliquin defence.

The match was played in blustery conditions which made kicking and handling the ball difficult.

Many kicks went out on the full and a number of passes were dropped.

Deniliquin opened the scoring in the third minute from a number eight pick-up and blindside drive from a five-metre scrum.

The Drovers had gained the field position from a missed tackle by the Bendigo backline defence. Bendigo then took play back inside the Deniliquin quarter where the drovers stoic defence held out the Miners for nearly 20 minutes before Jesse Tuitupou scored out wide.

Josh Manderson’s missed conversion attempt brought the score to 7-5 in favour of the Drovers.

Four minutes later, the Drovers extended their lead to 12-5 with a try following a charge down of an attempted Bendigo clearing kick.

Two minutes into the second half, Bendigo tied up the score at 12-12 with Poingdestre’s first try and a conversion by Manderson.

The Miners hit the lead 16 minutes into the second half with Jesse Tuitupou’s second try.

This lead was shortlived as the Drovers hit back almost immediately with their third try to again tie up the scores.

Bendigo went into the lead again with the try of the match by Manderson.

With 12 minutes left on the clock, Manderson put winger Phil Thomas into the clear on the halfway line.

Thomas took play inside the Deniliquin quarter with a strong run before offloading to Manderson backing up on the inside.

As time ran out, Poingdestre put the issue beyond doubt with his second try.

The Bendigo scrum was solid, but unable to dominate the Drovers as they have other clubs.