Fullback Tim Bassmann suffered a suspected broken collarbone, front-rower Hayden Davis came from the field with finger problems and centre Kurt Beahan also hobbled from the field in the first half.

The trio were casualties of a brutal game which St Pat’s took out 23-16 after a stellar defence performance from the Bathurst side.

CYMS captain-coach Pat Gibson, who was one of seven players from both teams backing up from Group 10 duties on Saturday, thought the tenacity of his players left on the field was great despite the seven-point loss.

“It was a good game of footy. I thought we played enormous,” Gibson said.

“We had one bloke left on the bench at half-time and then we ended up with no-one 10 minutes into the second half.

“I think Basso’s got a broken collarbone, I don’t really know about Haydos and Beahany.

“You’re not going to win all of the time and we didn’t so we’ve got to go back to the drawing board and get ready for Mudgee.”

The St Pat’s defence impressed their coach Kevin Grimshaw and he believes their new approach to the game without the ball is behind their two straight wins.

“Everyone put their hand up today, especially in defence,” Grimshaw said.

“That’s what has won us the game.

“The first two games we’ve played we had 40 scored against us and the last two we’ve had 14 and a 16 so our defence is improving 100 per cent as we go along.

“I think our attitude towards defence has changed. The first two games our attitude was terrible in defence, we always thought they were going to score tries but now we’re starting to realise we have to tackle a little bit.”

St Pat’s hooker Trent Hemsworth was good for the visitors and he got his side on the board first four minutes into the game.

CYMS then had the better of field position with the home side frequently visiting the St Pat’s defensive red zone.

The absence of injured halfback Steve Morris was telling with CYMS’ kicking options in attack poor. And in a frank assessment of his own game, Gibson shouldered the blame for the ineffective kicking game.

“I’ve been playing footy for 20 years, I’ve played a heap of halfback and that kicking game is not acceptable,” Gibson admitted.

“That is just as simple as that. Just because Stevey’s a good kid, I’ve probably got relaxed and let him do all of that.”

St Pat’s extended their lead to 10-nil in the 19th minute when fullback Nathan Corliss finishes off a good back line move.

CYMS hit back five minutes later when front rowers Hayden Davis and Luke Thompson found themselves on the right wing. They exchanged passes before Thompson barged over to get CYMS off the mark.

Hemsworth potted a penalty goal just after half-time to give St Pat’s a 12-4 lead before Mark Elliott hit a huge gap to cross for the Bathurst side’s third try.

The hooker added two more penalties for a 22-4 lead before Thompson hit a good short ball to go over for his second try with 18 minutes remaining.

Hemsworth was in the thick of it soon after landing an insurance field goal and it looked as though it would come in handy when CYMS lock Josh Nixon pushed through some weak goal line defence in the 71st minute to give the home side a sniff.

But St Pat’s held on for a seven point victory.

ST PAT’S 23 (Trent Hemsworth, Nathan Corliss, Mark Elliott tries Hemsworth 4 goals, 1 field goal) def ORANGE CYMS 16 (Luke Thompson 2, Josh Nixon tries Nixon, Thompson goal).