Bathurst to face Duntryleague in penultimate pennants round

This Sunday's challenge is the bottom-placed Duntryleague team at Wellington, who has just the one win and three losses to its name, but Bruce believes the Orange club's position isn't a true reflection of the quality in the team.

"If they play their normal squad - Robert Payne at one, maybe Peter Mitchell at two - they'll be hard to beat," Bruce.

"They beat us last time when we played at Wentworth 3 and 2 last year, so the boys will be out for a bit of revenge out there, which will be good."

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After missing out in Bathurst's most recent tie with Forbes on February 28, Reece Hodson returns to the team, replacing Stephen McDonald who won his match with John Betland 2 and 1.

Hodson will play from one, while Justin Sutton moves back to two, Danial Stibbard will play from three, Matt Phillips from four, while Darryn Bruce and Ben Davis will play-off for five on Saturday.

Bruce said playing on the Wellington green should present an interesting scenario, saying his team struggled last time because of the long grass.

"I expect the boys to do well, but it will be interesting to see how they go considering how long the grass might be at Wellington," he said.

"Last time we played Wellington, the grass was quite long and a couple of the boys struggled with it.

"Reece played well there last time and he fires the ball in the air a bit, which gives him a bit of an advantage over everyone else."

With Mudgee up against Forbes at the same venue, a win would be enough for the team to secure victory in this year's competition, having won all four previous ties.

"Mudgee has quite a lead, quite a good score. It's not impossible, with two rounds to go," Bruce said.

"If they lose both rounds, it's still up for grabs but they've got quite a good team and they've got all their players plus markers or better. I expect them to do really well, but you never know."

Wellington occupying second, followed by Dubbo and Bathurst in third and fourth respectively, with Parkes, Forbes and Duntryleague rounding out the positions.

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