A FLYING five-eighth, a slick fullback, a barnstorming prop and a huge effort in defence - they were all keys as the under 13 Bathurst Panthers kept their Group 10 Junior Rugby League season alive on Saturday.
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The Panthers beat Orange CYMS 32-16 in their elimination semi-final at Tony Luchetti Sportsground with a display of football that had coach Chris Coombes bursting with pride.
Front rower Ethan Potts made huge yards up the middle of the ruck, custodian Charlie Fischbeck was damaging in broken play and five-eighth Logan Coombes finished with a hat-trick of tries.
Their efforts in attack were impressive, but for coach Coombes the real heroics came in the way his side defended.
"Their defence was just unbelievable, just how much they've improved defence wise from the start of the year, that's what won that game," he said.
"I've got no doubt we can score points, we've got kids who can score points, I'm never worried about that. It's more defence and today they were unbelievable.
"Just getting off the line, getting up in their face the whole game and it was every one of them, even the bench players who came on.
"I just couldn't be more proud of them, it was just unbelievable when you consider where they've come from, we finished last the last couple of years."
Panthers made a flying start to the eliminator with Logan Coombes breaking clear down the left wing and running all the way to the try line.
But from the kick-off Panthers knocked on, CYMS lock Jackson Rodwell scored off the resulting set and Callum Miskell's conversion gave the Orange side a 6-4 lead.
It remained close until the five minutes before half-time - that's when Panthers blew the game open with three tries in quick succession.
Coombes crossed twice in that period, the first coming off the back of consecutive penalties, the second following a brilliant run from Potts.
When Fischbeck made a 57-metre run to the line off the next set, Panthers had skipped out to a 20-6 lead.
Having made huge metres every carry despite the attention of multiple defenders, when Potts got his name on the try scorers' list three minutes into the second half it drew loud cheers from his team-mates.
CYMS gave themselves some hope when Harry Dempsey dived over in the left corner to bring it back to 26-10, but the green and golds then knocked off from the kick-off and moments later Fischbeck had his second.
In the final quarter Fischbeck continued to impress - he jolted the ball lose in a crunching tackle and pulled off a one-on-one strip.
But to CYMS' credit they fought until the final minute when halfback Riley Board scored a consolation.
BATHURST PANTHERS 32 (Logan Coombes 3, Charlie Fishbeck 2, Ethan Potts tries; Charlie Fishbeck 3, Logan Coomes goals) defeated ORANGE CYMS 16 (Jackson Rodwell, Harry Dempsey, Riley Board tries; Callum Miskell 2 goals)
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