While Group 11 only managed one try during the contest - the opener in the 16^th minute - they enjoyed a glut of possession on Group 10's line in both halves.

But the wall of blue steel held firm, the gritty effort in defending their line seeing Group 11 rush plays and make handling errors as well.

"There was one time there just before half-time they defended five sets on their line. We did a little bit of work on our defence, the steel wall, blue steel," Osborne said.

"There's a good bond amongst them I think and that's the difference, we only had the one session together but they just all clicked together and bonded."

What made Group 10's effort in defence even more impressive was that they had been forced into an early positional change.

The game was only four minutes old when hooker Nick Loader was stretchered from the field with what is believed to be a snapped Achilles tendon.

Lock Jake Betts then switched to fill that role and fill it he did, making a glut of tries in a man-of-the-match performance.

"Poor old Bettsy got knocked straight into hooker after poor old Nick done his ankle. We had to pull a bloke out of position to play hooker all game," Osborne said.

"But I think that probably steeled them, it made them more resilient."

Saturday's win was Group 10's third in succession against Group 11, adding to their triumphs in 2019 (22-14) and 2018 (40-28).

Group 11 captain-coach Alex Ronayne was naturally disappointed his men were unable to end Group 10's streak, but he had nothing but praise for the defensive effort of his rivals.

"That was bloody unreal, like we gave everything at them, we just didn't bust them," he said.

"Credit to those boys, they dig deep and were a better team than us by a mile. We kept playing and kept coming but we couldn't break them, like I said they were just too good for us.

"I thought Ali Beale, our fullback, was very good for us. I thought he was our best. But we just need to hold the ball better next time."

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Group 11's first chance of the match came four minutes after Loader was forced from the field when Ronayne charged down a kick.

As he chased through he had no players between him and the try line, but he knocked on while trying to regather.

However, Group 11 continued to pressure and when their next chance came they took it.

After forcing a line drop out, Brad Pickering rolled a grubber towards the right wing. Though Group 10's Desi Doolan won the race to the ball, he was unable to ground it as it bounced awkwardly. Jyie Chapman followed through and had the opener.

Pickering converted but as his side returned the ball from the kick-off, they knocked on.

Off the set which followed Group 10 equalised in spectacular fashion. A cross field kick from Toby Westcott was reeled in by Addison Williams, the Orange CYMS talent not only producing a brilliant leap but showing finger-tip control to pull the ball in before grounding it.

Tyler Colley nailed the sideline conversion to lock it up at 6-all.

Six minutes later Group 10 had the lead as second rower Greg Alderson went over and when Bathurst Panthers centre Jeremy Gordon scored off a scrum 40 metres out - Group 11 having been penalised for stripping - the hosts led 14-6.

That how it remained at the break and how it remained for much of the second half.

Group 11 came out hard after the break in search of the lead and while they twice had three consecutive sets in attack, they could not find a way through.

With eight minutes left Group 10 centre Keelan Bresac, who also had strong claims on the best on ground honour, came up with a 70 metre line break which switched the momentum of the game.

It carried Group 10 out of their danger zone deep into attack.

The next play Group 11 halfback Nick Greenhalgh was sin-binned for a professional foul and a minute later Colley stepped his way over and planted the ball between the sticks.

He converted his own try, icing a 20-6 victory.

"Three in a row, yeah it was beautiful. They played really well and they deserved it," Osborne said.

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