The Rams went down 36-6 to the Tuggeranong Bushrangers at Phillip on Saturday, with a ceremony to celebrate "Coxy's" life held before the Canberra Raiders Cup game.

Cox was a foundation Ram and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2021 for his service to rugby league.

Woden's old boys were out in full force for the South Canberra derby, with 2018 premiership coach Ash Barnes and former Raiders player Lincoln Withers amongst the crowd.

But it was the Bushrangers who were celebrating the win, with winger Jayden Pollard scoring a hat-trick and second-rower Benjamin Nanesa a brace on the way to a convincing victory.

Thomson said Tuggeranong were able to get on top in the middle and the Rams were never able to wrestle back momentum - especially in the second half.

Despite the result, he said it was still a good day for the club with a big crowd coming out to mark the occasion.

He said they would continue to build throughout the season.

"Massive day. There's no disappointment in the loss because Pete's seen plenty of them here," Thomson said with a wry laugh.

"But the effort's there and we tried to play. We didn't get the result we wanted, but it was honourable to have the crowd that we had here and the respect for Pete was very nice.

"There's areas we need to improve on and we'll get better with as the season goes on.

"It's a lesson today that we'll take away and we'll make ourselves stronger and learn from that."

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Tuggeranong coach Jason Kelly was happy with the win in the end - after a bit of a sloppy start where their discipline let them down.

He was really happy with their second half, their experienced players especially - the likes of halfback Michael Brophy and prop Zac Saddler, who was carrying an injury.

Then there was Nanesa, a Tuggeranong product who was the best player on the park.

"I thought our experienced players really played well in that second half," Kelly said.

"Brophy was really good, Zac Saddler, who was carrying an injury into the game was fantastic.

"But Ben Nanesa was big for us in the back row. He was huge ... great day for him."

In the other game, the Gungahlin Bulls were far too strong for the Queanbeyan Blues - winning 44-16 at Gungahlin Enclosed.

AT A GLANCE

TUGGERANONG BUSHRANGERS 36 (Jayden Pollard 3, Benjamin Nanesa 2, Seketoa Wesley-Tameifuna, Darby Medlyn tries; Zac Saddler 3, Liam Oakley goals) bt WODEN VALLEY RAMS 6 (Jesse Taws try; Daniel Desmet goal); GUNGAHLIN BULLS 44 (R Allan 2, Walsh 2, Reilly, Sherd, Delamere, Luke tries; Thomson 6 goals) bt QUEANBEYAN BLUES 16 (Morseu, Butler-Fleming tries; Mitchell 2 goals)