A week after accounting for Penrith in the under 16s championship opener, the Rams led 14-6 at the break at Ron Crowe Oval and maintained that eight-point buffer mid-way through the second term to lead 18-10 until Wake blazed his way through the Bulls defence and raced 35 metres to score the try that broke the hosts' back.

Impressive South Dubbo winger Brandan Hamitlon continued his stunning under 16s campaign to date with a hat-trick as well, but it was the Rams work without the ball that impressed coach Tony Woolnough the most.

Bulls man mountain Feata Tauaneai barged his way over late in the game to bring the final margin back to 10, but it was of little consequence for the Johns Cup champs.

"It was an ugly win but our defence, as it did last week, probably got us over the line," Woolnough said.

"Our discipline let us down a lot and if we can stop giving away those piggy backs down field we'll go further.

"But our whole team defensively was outstanding again. First 10 minutes outstanding, we had no ball and had to dig in and to turn it around like we did is really pleasing."

As Woolnough alluded, the Rams started slowly on Saturday.

Riverina shot out of the blocks and opened the scoring to lead 6-0 early but it didn't take long to turn things around.

Aston Warwick enjoyed a thunderous opening half and scored a great try to get the Rams back in the game, and following further four-pointers to Hamilton and then Kyle Mawhinney Western jumped to a 14-6 half-time lead.

With Western down to 12 men following the sin-binning of prop Sam Raumati - the Red Bend big-bopper was penalised three times in three minutes - Riverina opened the scoring in the second term to draw within a converted try of the Rams and rocket the hosts back into the contest.

But that momentum was short-lived.

The Dubbo connection of fullback Braye Porter and winger Hamilton gifted Western its first try of the second stanza before Wake produced his stunning effort to completely take the game away from Riverina.

Out of nothing, Wake broke free of a couple of flimsy Bulls tackles before showing tremendous pace to score a terrific solo try.

Hamilton completed his hat-trick shortly after and Western was up 26-10 before Tauaneai bagged a consolation four-pointer for the hosts.

Western sits on top of the Johns Cup's southern pool and is well on the way to securing a top two spot.

"I think we're building momentum and if we can fix a few things up then we'll go far. Our combinations are building which is great," the first-year coach said.

Woolnough said hooker Fletcher Haycock and Brandan Hamilton were two of his side's best.

"We had a bit of a slow start, and I noticed that especially in the warm up, we were probably a little too relaxed," he added.

"But a couple of players put hands up to get us out of that and I thought Jackson Gersbach was good and Aston Warwick was as well."