If you’ve got some spare time on Sunday afternoon you’d be silly to pass up a visit to Carrington Park for Orange CYMS’ clash with Bathurst Panthers, undeniably the game of the Group 10 premier league season so far.
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It’s a top-of-the-table clash, pitting the competition’s two best attacking and defensive sides against each other.
CYMS and Panthers boast the competition’s biggest, strongest and most hostile forward packs and, arguably, have the most exciting backlines as well.
Getting the picture yet?
More than anything it’s a battle for outright first. The two sides are locked on 20 competition points, although Panthers take top spot on points difference.
The men in black have played an extra game though, Bathurst moved its round 13 clash with Orange Hawks forward. It acted as a curtain-raiser to the Penrith Panthers’ NRL game against Canberra two weeks ago.
The two sides met earlier in the season and after racing to a 22-0 lead, CYMS collected a 22-16 victory after escaping a late surge from the Panthers.
This time around, Bathurst will be bolstered by a home-ground advantage that should see plenty of Panthers supporters.
CYMS visited Bathurst just seven days ago and had to dig deep in a narrow 28-24 win over St Pats, a green and golds’ performance highlighted by errors.
Panthers were forced to work hard for their victory last weekend too, the men in black were severely tested by the eighth-placed Lithgow Workies.
CYMS captain-coach Mick Sullivan hinted both sides might have been looking to Sunday’s clash, rather than focusing on the task at hand.
“I think we had our eyes on this weekend,” Sullivan said.
After falling into a 22-point hole in their first match, it’s likely the Panthers will emphasise a fast start to avoid a similar deficit.
They’ve certainly done so in recent weeks, most notably when they ran riot at Orange’s Pride Park and put 72 points on Hawks.
Sullivan spoke about the importance of being switched on from the outset and trying to get on the front foot.
“Their big pack likes to start fast in the first 15 (minutes),” he said, highlighting the likes of Panthers’ guns Brent and Blake Seager as danger men.
“If you stop their go-forward it limits what they can do so we’ll look to do that and work our way into the game.”
CYMC are still without nippy hooker Ryan Griffin, who has been nigh on the best player for the green and golds this season.
Sam Hill takes his spot at hooker, as per last week, so CYMS don’t lose much. Hill’s won a number of premier league titles with the No.9 on his back.
CYMS and Panthers both have massive fan bases who, unlike some other clubs, travel, and Sullivan is expecting good crowd to turn up on Sunday.
“You’d think it’d be a good chance for their supporters to get behind them,” he said.
Kick off at Carrington Park is at 2.30pm.
- ORANGE CYMS: 1 Ben McAlpine, 2 Tom Satterthwaite, 3 Joe Lasagavibau, 4 Bronx Goodwin, 5 Semisi Katoa, 6 Luke Petrie, 7 Mick Sullivan, 8 Chris Bamford, 9 Sam Hill, 10 Cam Jones, 11 Brock McGarity, 12 Rob Mortimer, 13 Tim Mortimer; Bench: 14 Joe Duffy, 15 Kurt Beahan, 16 Lachie Munro