Peter McDonald Premiership: Dubbo CYMS defeated Bathurst St Pats 42-22

CYMS hosted St Pats in round two of the Peter McDonald Premiership season on Sunday afternoon at Apex Oval and it was the hosts who came away with a 42-22 win.

Following his first game at halfback for CYMS, Madden had a few thoughts on the game.

"It was very physical, we started off pretty scrappy but ended up tiring through Bathurst's middle and ended up having some joy," he said.

St Pats captain-coach Zac Merritt thought his side put in a solid effort for their second outing of the season.

"We had a good first 20 minutes then sort of beat ourselves I think," he said.

"We had a lot of dropped balls and a couple of penalties that you can't give away against a good quality side on the fourth and fifth tackle.

"All in all, I don't think the scoreboard showed how close the game was."

Merritt's men started brilliantly as Hayden Bolam and Matt Ranse crossed to score inside the first 10 minutes with the former converting both tries.

The visitors had all the momentum but some silly penalties let CYMS back into the match.

Jeremy Thurston crossed for CYMS midway through the opening half with Brad Pickering adding the extras to get the hosts back in the match with the score at 12-6.

CYMS centre Jyie Chapman then found a massive hole in the Bathurst defence and darted through to score a try of his own, which went unconverted.

Off the kick-off, CYMS shifted early in the set and Billy Sing made a break down the sideline, running almost 60 metres to score for his side.

Things got even better for the hosts when a clever Luke Jenkins kick from dummy half hit the post and Alister Beale dived on the loose ball to score under the posts, with Pickering making no mistake with the conversion attempt.

Half-time was blown shortly after Beale's try with CYMS leading 20-12.

It felt like St Pats had to score first in the second half and they did just that, with Jack Mackey diving over to score, with Bolam adding the extra two points.

St Pats then received several penalties in a row but couldn't break CYMS' defensive line which looked strong for most of the afternoon.

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Ben Marlin was the next to score for CYMS with Pickering converting the try to push the score out to 26-18.

Lee McClintock found himself diving on a grubber in the corner just minutes later to get St Pats back in the game at 26-22 with just 20 minutes remaining.

But it was Thurston once again who crossed to score before late tries to Jack Allen and Billy Sing sealed CYMS' victory.

In his maiden start at halfback in the top grade, Madden believes he did his job well.

"The boys just wanted someone to guide them around the park and from all reports I think I did that half decently," he said.

"It's good, I like first grade and it's very physical."

While there were several bright points for CYMS, Madden thought Marlin was impressive off the bench.

"Benny's Benny, he just does his job and gets himself set in the middle," he said.

"He helps me out with shape and just getting set really, he's really good."

While they may not have won, Merritt knows the mistakes they made can be fixed as the competition continues.

"That's what I just said to them there, it's round two," he said.

"We work on that from now, as long as it doesn't keep happening week in and week out.

"We'll build on that and there is another 12 or 13 games to go."

DUBBO CYMS 42 (Billy Sing 2, Jeremy Thurston 2, Jack Allen, Alister Beale, Ben Marlin, Jyie Chapman tries; Brad Pickering 5 goals) defeated BATHURST ST PATS 22 (Matt Ranse, Hayden Bolam, Lee McClintock, Jack Mackey tries; Bolam 3 goals)

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