Orange Emus and Forbes Platypi players rushed to the showers, found heaters or latched on to anything they could find that was warm, including a swig of Bundy, after a torrid, albeit shortened, clash in abhorrent conditions in Orange.

Emus won 8-0 on the back of a first half try to Archie Hall and a penalty goal from returning veteran Nigel Staniforth, but the scoreline was almost lost in the wash after players battled their way through patches of snow, sleet and rain, on top of an out-and-out bog of a surface and freezing temperatures - the feels-like temperature was minus-9.4 when full-time was called early at about 4.30pm.

The end of the game deteriorated to the point where it became scrum, pass, drop, repeat, Emus skipper Charlie Henley saying he'd never played in anything like it before.

"And I hope to never play in anything like that again," he smiled, covered in mud in the Emus' change rooms.

"That half-time break killed us. We all warmed up in the sheds and then went back out and it turned to mud and slush and it was awful. The temperature. We couldn't hold the ball.

"We'll take the four points and move on to next week and hope for better conditions."

Phil Prior has been part of the furniture at Forbes for the last 40 years and remembers a few trips to Orange to take on Ag College in the snow.

But the Platypi coach says Saturday's hit-out against Emus shouldn't have gone ahead, not with "player safety and duty of care" in mind.

"It was always going to be a tough day, and that made it tougher," Prior said looking at the Endeavour slop.

"We were always coming over ... but I don't think the game should have started. We would have been the only game in NSW that would have started in those conditions. It was atrocious.

"It was a shit game. What do you get out of that?"

Emus, as Henley said, take the four points and maintain an undefeated record in the shortened 2020 title race.

But the eight-point loss makes Forbes' quest to make the finals that little bit harder, with Prior hoping the improving Platypi can jag two wins in their final three games - they host Dubbo and Bathurst and play away against City - to snag a shot at the post season.

"It's been a challenge but everyone is in the same boat," the veteran mentor said.

"It's an open season but these blokes are the yardstick."

Worryingly for Emus, Sam Greatbatch left the field in the second half and emerged from the Emus sheds in a sling with concerns the dynamic flanker may have a collarbone injury.

Forbes also has its own injury concerns, on top of rep prop Charlie French missing the clash with a knee injury his replacement Nick Guise had his shoulder put back in place on the sideline on Saturday while No.8 Matt Coles is nursing a strained back and failed to finish the game too.

On a brighter note, Emus' colts fullback Alexander Brien was strong in his top grade debut on the wing for the competition leaders.

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