The blue and golds came away with only the one win from their four games over Saturday but importantly they finished second on the ladder in the four-team top division and have avoided a semi-final date with Orange.

Bathurst didn't have trouble finding points in the weekend's opening game against Orange but the issue was that they had no way of stopping the hosts at the other end, going down to the defending champions 38-22.

They went down in the following game as well, a 30-25 loss to Forbes, which gave Bathurst their first defeat of the competition to an association other than Orange.

Bathurst bounced back with a hard fought 27-23 win over Dubbo but we're outclassed in their second meeting of the weekend against Orange, losing 28-13.

Minor premiers Orange will play Dubbo in their semi-final while Bathurst will get ready to face Forbes in the other semi, hoping to avoid a repeat of Saturday's result on the big stage.

Forbes got the edge over Dubbo in the battle for third place, based on for-and-against.

Orange were once again at their ruthless best across the two rounds as they racked up nine wins from as many games, including a 40-9 hammering of Dubbo on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Bathurst's division two side has a solid day on the Orange courts.

They were unable to get their revenge against Warren, going down 27-24 on the last game of the day, and they went down in their meeting with the hosts.

However, they made a strong impression in their other games.

They began the day with a 34-20 victory over Mudgee and returned after their rest session in the middle of the day to record a thumping 36-19 win against Dubbo.

Bathurst finished third on the division two ladder with an even 4-4 record and will going into their semi-final meeting against the second-placed Warren squad as underdogs.

Orange will play Mudgee in the other semi-final after the latter got the edge over Dubbo on point differential.

In the division three race Group 14 finished on top of the table with 14 points, just ahead of Warren's second string team on 12.

Parkes (6) finished third and Cowra (4) edged out Lithgow (4) in the battle for fourth.

Teams go on a short break now before the semi-finals and finals for all divisions take place on March 27.

Orange are the defending champions in both divisions one and two while division three is guaranteed to have a new winner, with Bathurst not fielding a side.

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