CYMS made No. 1 Oval home again on Sunday afternoon and there was a bumper showing from both sets of fans in conditions perfect for rugby league.

But despite all the hype, the meeting between the two injury-plagued sides didn’t hit the greatest of heights.

CYMS ran out 46-22 winners, but the match was full of stoppages brought about by plenty of errors and the whistle of referee Willy Barnes, something which brought about heavy criticism from Wellington captain-coach Aidan Ryan.

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However, when the game was flowing the Fishies were a step above and ran in nine tries to all but seal this season’s minor premiership.

“There was definitely some issues in terms of execution, particularly in defence, and we need to work on that,” CYMS stand-in captain John Grey said.

“We’ve played a hell of a lot of footy up to date and we’ve got a lot to work and a couple of boys to come back in. We’re still playing around with positions and players who back up to play off the bench.

“But it’s still really good to see the quality we can get and how much depth we do have this year.”

Ryan said he his club will be sending Barnes video footage of his performance and some questions in the coming days.

The Cowboys, who did have a string of penalties at one stage in the second half, also had half Adrian Davis sent late on for a high shot.

While incredibly frustrated, the injured Cowboys mentor confessed his valiant side wasn’t good enough on the day.

“It was hard for us. We showed up to be competitive and I thought we were in patches but CYMS was too dominant again,” he said.

“I was happy with the boys, they worked hard when ‘AJ’ (Davis) got sent off and scored a few tries but I think a few of the major calls were disgraceful.”

After an even first 10 minutes a couple of penalties from the Cowboys allowed CYMS to build pressure and after Corey Cox opened the scoring it was soon 12-0 when Hamish Astill muscled his way across following Bayden Searle’s fine kick to force a dropout.

The sides traded tries from grubbers to make it 16-4 to the hosts before a brilliant Kenny Everson offload put Norm West over to get the Cowboys within striking range.

However, a try from Grey from a fortuitous bounce and a penalty goal from Pickering put CYMS in command at the break.

The Fishies then raced to a 44-10 inside after 60 minutes lead and while the Cowboys fought late they could never make-up that deficit.

Grey, Cox and Astill all finished with doubles while Wellington forwards Everson and Mac Dutfield both crossed in the final 20 minutes after Davis was marched.

”They had 12 blokes and still scored successive tries and that’s not good,” Grey said of his side’s second half.

One thing the skipper was delighted to see was the versatility of a number of players again shining bright.

Wade Kavanagh tore the Cowboys apart when he moved to hooker in the second half while Brad Pickering again played a key role at five-eighth despite playing most of the season at fullback.

“It’s unbelievable,” Grey said.

“At the start of the year we were looking at players and knew we had quite an array to choose from but who could have predicted the injuries we’ve been hit with? It’s been unbelievable and we’ve got about 10 blokes sitting on the sidelines.

“So to have blokes who can fill in and slot into different roles is a credit to those individuals.”