With Bathurst High going into the day with a lead of 120 points, it was going to take something special for Dubbo to upset the apple cart, particularly with the athletics already called off.

Wet venues meant that Dubbo hosted the boys’ and girls’ soccer and the boys’ rugby league, while the athletics venue in the city was already in use, so the teams took a 50-50 split of the points.

Dubbo would have needed to win both soccer matches convincingly to give themselves a chance, but an Annabel Meadley strike late in the girls’ game gave Bathurst a 1-0 win, and a 67-33 split.

The boys then fought out an entertaining but scoreless draw, before Dubbo closed the tie with a gritty 20-16 win in a classic rugby league contest.

"We are very pleased with the result. All the games today were extremely close and the students from both schools need to be commended for the way they played and the sportsmanship throughout the two days," Bathurst High Astley Cup co-ordinator Paul Abbott said.

"In the boys’ soccer the Bathurst team has improved with every game they've played this year and a lot of spectators commented on the general level of skill on show.

“There were a couple of half-chances for each side but it was mostly fought out in the middle.

"In the girls’ game, Annabel scored the decisive goal with about five minutes to play. 

“She hit a shot very sweetly from outside the 18-yard box and that clinched the result. 

"Prior to that, Bathurst had a lot of chances but Dubbo, to their credit, did an outstanding job to defend and hold out for as long as they did.

"The rugby league was another close game and was in the balance literally into the last 30 seconds.

“It was a high quality game."

The league was decided by a brilliant individual try from Dubbo five-eighth and Western representative Luke Gale, who stepped and jinked around numerous players in a 50m run that ended with the ball being planted down next to the uprights.

As ever for the schools without the Cup - in this year's case, Bathurst and Dubbo - the challenge will be to try to make sure that the younger students who got a taste of competition this year are at their peak in 12 months when they try to dethrone Orange High.

Abbott says his school is well-positioned for the future.

"It is hard to guess but off the top of my head I think that most of our teams had a lot of students in them who still have at least a year of school left so they'll be better for the experience this year," he said.