BATHURST Panthers under 15s may not have got the result they wanted from Saturday’s Group 10 Junior Rugby League final against Orange CYMS at Carrington Park, but there’s no doubting that the hosts lifted for the occasion.
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A fortnight after the Orange side handed the Panthers a 40-10 hammering in the major semi-final, a renewed Bathurst squad were never out of the contest at any stage against CYMS, eventually going down 28-22.
Orange fullback and man of the match Moung Dut put on a clinic with not only a double to his name but also several line breaks and try-saving moments.
It saw Panthers, contesting their sixth successive grand final, go down to the side that bested them also in last year’s decider.
Panthers coach John Fearnley said his minor premier team put up a great fight.
“We showed a lot of character out there. There were a couple of little things that went against us I thought. A few tight calls there but that happens in grand finals. That’s the way it works out sometimes, but it was still a really great effort from the boys today so I couldn’t be prouder,” he said.
Within seven minutes of Saturday’s grand final, Panthers had put more points past CYMS than they had managed to do in the whole of their last meeting.
The first try went to halfback Braydon Wicks, and after he converted his own try, another short range converted try, this time to Andrew Bennett, gave Panthers a 12-0 lead.
CYMS had their first good chance just minutes later when they recovered the ball back off a bomb, but the following pass was deemed to have gone forward.
Panthers kept the momentum in their favour as they forced several line drop outs from Orange early on, but the visitors found their first points against the run of play.
Dut found his way into a gap 40 metres from his own line and ran out the remaining distance to get his side on the board.
Feleti Mateo beat two Panthers opponents to the ball in mid air to score and tie the game up with 12 minutes until half-time.
Dut was almost in again when a huge leaping catch off another bomb fell out of his grasp on the journey back to earth.
Felix Quinn’s four-pointer got Panthers an 18-12 lead at half-time.
It was the Orange fullback once again who was causing headaches for the Panthers defence as he stepped several players on his way to scoring under the posts two minutes into the new half.
CYMS found the lead through Ethan Kennedy who was left on his own out on the right wing.
Panthers got some relief on the back of three successive penalties, and a second try to Wicks ensured they made the most out of the rare time near the CYMS try line.
The missed conversion left Panthers behind 24-22.
With five minutes left Craig Tarr pushed Orange’s lead out to six with an unconverted try.
Panthers looked to pull off an escape act as a failed CYMS scrum feed gave the hosts the ball back in the dying seconds, but it came to nothing.
ORANGE CYMS 28 (Moung Dut 2, Feleti Mateo, Ethan Kennedy, Craig Tarr tries; Toby Westcott 4 conversions) defeated BATHURST PANTHERS 22 (Braydon Wicks 2, Andrew Bennett, Felix Quinn tries; Wicks 3 conversions)
