Mixed results greeted the Blayney Bears in Mudgee on Sunday with the league tag being beaten by CYMS 26-10, and the under 18's knocking CYMS out of the finals race 22-18.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
With a clean winning record against CYMS for the entire 2019 season, Sunday's loss has demonstrated how an improving side can turn the table come finals time.
When they first met in the second round Blayney won 20-14, then in the 11th, thanks to an Olivia Bird goal, they won 2-0.
This time around the CYMS players were simply the best on field said Bear's coach Tim Mooney.
"We were off our game a little bit, and they were right on top of theirs."
"Whenever we got to make a break CYMS were there and they never missed a tag," he said.
CYMS led 16 to nil for most of the first half thanks to tries from Holly Gibson, Mandy Moore and a converted try by Elise Garlick.
A late try by Abby Stammers that was converted by Abbie Uhr reduced the margin to 10 points with a 16-6 half-time scoreline.
Lucy Johnston added to the scoreline in the second half but that was met with two other tries from CYMS.
Under 18's coach Ryley Oborn said that his side's defence made all the difference on the day.
"We muscled up really well in defence and they couldn't get through us," he said.
An early intercept by CYMS shook the Bear's players, but they bounced back only minutes later when Mayson McPaul converted a Lachie Coyte try to bring the score to 6-6.
Despite the setback of another try by CYMS in the first half, Oborn said that the side just kept it together.
"They had good composure and played very patient footy," he said.
A McPaul penalty goal and a converted try by Joseph Hanley saw the Bear's take the field at the start of the second half ahead 14-10.
Although CYMS made two tries in the second half, they were unconverted, and when Spud Kelly notched up a try and McPaul split the uprights from the conversion and another penalty, the Bears were in.
This weekend though the Bear's will be up against Bathurst St Pats, a side that Blayney has failed to beat all year.
"Last time we played in Blayney we were the better side and just let some errors creep in," he said.
"They scored a try in the last minutes of that game from an error. Also we didn't have a full side like we do this weekend.
"If we can keep them out of the game like we can, this will be our best chance to get them."
The under 18's will be taking to Wade Park this Sunday at 12.20.
Mark Logan
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
