Mudgee Wombats players enroute to finals game save an elderly woman trapped outside overnight near Wellington

The Mudgee Wombats U18s team bus was enroute to Cowra, having left Mudgee before sunrise at 5.30am to play for a spot in the grand final against the Dubbo Kangaroos on August 20 when the bus driver, David English noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

That something was Gillian Ryan who was weakly waving a handkerchief in the air in a desperate attempt to flag down a passerby. Gillian had been out the afternoon before on her Gator all-terrain-vehicle to check on her sheep when she rolled the vehicle and broke her shoulder in the fall.

Unable to get up, Gillian had endured the night outdoors in conditions that dropped to as low as -1 degrees with a broken shoulder as a result of the accident. Shivering and covered in frost, Gillian was sitting in water with just a cushion to comfort her.

The bus pulled over and the team of teens and staff jumped the fence onto Gillian's property and rushed to her aid. Gillian also happened to be turning 74 the day she was found.

Mudgee Wombats Vice-President Ros Lee described the surprising encounter.

"It was freezing that morning, we did a u-turn, and we went back. We opened the bus door and you could hear this little voice going 'help, help,' she said.

"So the boys have just piled out of the bus and run down through the scrub, jumped the fence and into this paddock. We checked her out and one of them got on the phone to the ambulance.

"We warmed her up and packed her with blankets and all the boys jackets... she mentioned to us that her daughter lived in a house that was about 150 meters away. So they went and got her attention."

Gillian's daughter Tammy Nugent said things could have turned out very differently that day.

"I think just the fact that they were on a bus and being a bit bored, looking out the window was the perfect opportunity for them," she said.

"We're very grateful. She'd hung on and stayed awake all night, so she didn't fall asleep. That was her thing. She said she had to stay awake so she wouldn't die. If she'd seen me drive past she might have thrown the towel in there.

"They saved her life."

17-year-old Michael Webb was among the players on the bus that morning and helped administer first-aid to Gillian as she lay shivering on the ground.

"The first instinct was to run over and make sure she was okay," he said.

"We'd just recently done a first-aid course with the rugby club so a few of us boys were trained up on that. So that helped a lot.

"We did everything we could to make her as comfortable as possible. We got her some blankets and my brother (Jack Webb) and I picked her up and lifted her onto the back of the Gator."

Another player, Cody Towell said it was humbling to know that they are credited with saving Gillian's life.

"It's a weird feeling to know that if we weren't there that she potentially wouldn't have lived. It's weird but it was an experience," he said.

NSW Ambulance confirmed paramedics were called to the scene on the Mitchell Highway on August 20 at around 6.50am to Gillian's aid after receiving reports of a woman in her 70s who had fallen and located near an ATV.

Gillian was taken to Dubbo Base Hospital where she remains as of September 26, with recovery and rehabilitation on her shoulder expected to take a number of months.

Bus driver David English said it was lucky he was sitting as high as he was in the bus. He understands why no one else driving past seemed to stop and help.

"With the long grass beside the road, you're flat seeing it. She [Gillian] said she was trying to flash the lights on the side by side vehicle. You're down low and grass is half a metre high, in a car you wouldn't really see it," David said.

Ros said that none of the boys had any worry about potentially missing the game they were about to play.

"Considering they're the under 18s boys - none of them have had a lot of life experience amongst them. The way that they - one just got straight onto 000 and the boys grabbed blankets and did this and that, they were just great.

"They didn't win the game that day but they saved a life, I think that's worth celebrating."