The Astley Cup can bring the best out of people, but during last year's rugby league match, it all boiled over for Bathurst High Campus forward Regan Stait.
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Playing at Carrington Park, Stait came in late on an Orange kicker, which resulted in a scuffle and the forward being sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes.
Stait admitted that the emotions got the best of him that day and felt that he let his team down massively in the 24-16 loss.
But a year later and plenty more experience under his belt, the Bathurst forward is eager to amend himself in the opening round of the Astley Cup.
"Hopefully I won't let the team down this year, like I did last year," Stait lamented.
"That really caused Orange to run away with it, so hopefully I can be a team player and get over the top of them."
![Bathurst rugby league captain Regan Stait, ahead of this Friday's showdown with Orange. Picture by James Arrow Bathurst rugby league captain Regan Stait, ahead of this Friday's showdown with Orange. Picture by James Arrow](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/33jmgggMux4cQ6bJ2r3hFg4/031ad7f0-5043-4ad9-8bdc-37d9c2d819c6.jpg/r231_280_4706_3356_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Tough game of footy awaits
Stait is no stranger to top level footy.
Over his junior career, he's played representative rugby league for the Western Rams, while he's also a regular for St Pat's in the Tom Nelson Under 18s competition.
But Orange is stacked with plenty of quality youngsters too, so understandably Stait is expecting a tough game.
![Regan Stait on the charge in Bathurst's 24-16 loss to Orange in last year's Astley Cup. Picture by Bradley Jurd Regan Stait on the charge in Bathurst's 24-16 loss to Orange in last year's Astley Cup. Picture by Bradley Jurd](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/33jmgggMux4cQ6bJ2r3hFg4/cf4199a0-1c25-41e6-b159-cc98f2b31397.jpeg/r1720_1213_4059_2784_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"Orange go good," he said.
"It'll be a very tough game, probably one of the toughest games of footy you might see in Astley Cup history.
"Both teams have got really good players but hopefully at the end of the day, Bathurst High comes out on top."
Eager to end streak
For the past two years, Bathurst High has had to watch on as bitter rivals Orange took up the Astley Cup crown.
What made it even worse, Orange scored a late goal in the boys soccer last year to win the tie on Bathurst soil.
Eager to go out a winner in his final and even more eager to stop Orange's run, Stait knows just how big this round against Orange will be.
"It's very important to win," he said.
"They're looking for three and hopefully we won't let them get three.
"We're looking for our first one in a couple of years. Hopefully at the end of the day we beat Orange, we beat Dubbo and the trophy comes home to us."
The Bathurst-Orange fixture will be played at Wade Park on Friday, June 14.
The match is scheduled to kick-off at 12.45pm and will be the penultimate sport of the tie, with tennis to be the final sport from 2pm.