Group 10 fans arrived at Wade Park on Sunday looking for their fix of rugby league magic, and it took Bathurst St Pat's halfback Tyler Colley about 36 minutes to give it to them... and in a big way.
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With the blue and whites leading 10-0 over a depleted Mudgee Dragons outfit, the young maestro tried his luck at a chip and chase from 50 metres out, and when the bounce evaded fullback Jayden Brown, Colley was there to pounce for the try.
The highlight was one of many produced by Pat's as they went on to win the clash 36-18, announcing itself as a smokey side with back-to-back wins heading into the mid-way point of the winter.
Pat's have looked like a completely different unit over their last two games - not just because they've managed to get players back from injury - but there's a new sense of belief among the club.
Colley played down his effort in the chip-and-chase effort which helped to inject some spark into the Saints side at Wade Park.
"I just had a look up and they were a bit passive," Colley said.
"The fullback was deep, so I thought I'd just nudge one over and give it a crack and it came off, the bounce went straight over his head."
After starting the season 0-4, Colley's stoked with how the side's responded in the last fortnight, but knows there's still work to do.
"We beat Lithgow last week and our confidence was pretty good coming into this week," he said.
"We had good preparation, we knew Mudgee were under-strength so we knew it was a good opportunity to get another win and we came out pretty hot.
"Our errors have been costing a lot, and so have penalties on fifth and last."
St Pat's and Mudgee got the day's magic round action underway at Orange before Bathurst rivals Panthers thumped Lithgow Workies.
Rounding out the day was an exciting derby clash between Orange Hawks and Orange CYMS.
CYMS came away from that match as 36-22 winners.
Hawks shot out to a 10-0 lead early in the day's feature game but from there the men in green started to dictate terms.
Lachie Munro and Joe Duffy tries saw CYMS take the lead for the first time at 12-10.
Fill-in two blues' skipper Ethan McKellar stormed onto a short ball from Westcott just four minutes later, shrugging off Mortimer before beating Munro to score.
CYMS then cashed in on back-to-back tries and enjoyed a 24-16 half-time buffer.
To add salt to Hawks' wounds, Ryan Manning was sin-binned in the 45th minute for a professional foul, opening the flood gates for the green and golds.
Lachie Munro, Nick Law and Jordan Clarke were among CYMS' try scorers during the period after the sin-binning.
Two blues' flier Mitch Watts brought the scores back to 34-22 with 12 to go, but an Addison Williams penalty goal put the nail in the coffin with a few minutes left, leaving CYMS two games up in the all-Orange series.
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