By SAM DEBENHAM

BATHURST St Pat's will play Macquarie in the decider of the first division Western Challenge under 18s competition this Saturday after an impressive display against Mudgee at Jack Arrow Oval over the weekend.

St Pat's ran in four tries to two in the 30-10 semi-final victory to continue their bright start to the year after a 2008 that they would rather forget.

On top of the solid defensive display, Pat's showed some enterprise in attack while kicker Joey Coughlan had a field day in splitting the sticks six times.

Meanwhile, Bathurst Panthers will contest the division two grand final after a season-best display against Wellington at Cowra.

The Panthers side started slowly but finished in a blaze of points to smash the Cowboys 36-16 and earn another shot against Forbes in the decider.

They ran in seven tries to three, impressing coach Dave Hotham.

"It was pretty comprehensive in the end, we maybe didn't start off that good, they were not a real flash side and we played at their level for the first little part of the match," he said.

"The second half was a lot better from our point of view."

Among the seven tries for Panthers were doubles to second-rower Aaron Piper-Hurst and lock Warwick Mylchreest, and it was that pair who particularly impressed their mentor.

"Both those players were very strong and were probably the two best on the day," Hotham explained.

"This match against Forbes is probably going to be a lot harder than the last one, they have a couple of boys going back into that team who were not there last time and who played first grade for them in their last match."

Last time Panthers and Forbes met ? a fortnight ago ? Panthers were denied what would have been an impressive win when a blatant forward pass was missed. It allowed the Magpies to level the scores in the dying stages.

The Magpies are coming off a 32-4 demolition on the Narromine Jets.

The second division final will kick off at 12.30pm on Saturday while the first division decider between Pat's and Macquarie will get underway at 2pm, with all games being held at Carrington Park.

ST PAT'S 30 (Justin Mobbs, Brendan Hearnden, Bryden Gilmore, Rob Armitage tries; Joey Coughlan 6 goals) defeated MUDGEE DRAGONS 10 (Tom Lewsley 2 tries; Josh Crowe goal)

BATHURST PANTHERS 36 (Warwick Mylchreest 2, Bryan Jones 2, Aaron Piper Hurst, Brad Hodges, Corey Rotarangi tries; Chris Shepherd 3, Ron Wallace goals) defeated WELLINGTON COWBOYS 16 (Lance Louie, Corey Stanley, Jake Tulhurst tries; Ethan Ryan 2 goals).