Daniel Mortimer's green and golds rose from the dead with 17 minutes remaining in Saturday's Group 10 derby at Wade Park, turning a 20-12 deficit into a 29-20 victory, ensuring they remain favourites to claim the competition's minor premiership.

Like they have done in both derbies so far, two blues flew out of the gates with back-to-back tries to Ryan Manning and Mitch Watts as a Saul Houma break provided the first, before an intercept led to the second.

But, CYMS have showed potency playing from behind this season and when Joe Lasagavibau finessed his way over the try-line in the 19^th minute, you could feel the momentum swing at 10-6.

It only took three minutes for Addison Williams to add to his try-scoring tally as a Dom Maley inside ball gave the flier a clear passage to the try line. Williams would convert his own try to give his men a 12-10 lead.

Hawks had the last say before the break as Jordan Baker was the beneficiary of a scrum set piece as dove over in the corner, bringing the scores to 14-12.

Willie Heta took the game into his own hands in the 57^th minute as he took several defenders over the try-line with him, the skipper helping his men to a 20-12 lead.

That breakthrough would be the last impact Hawks had on the score sheet as CYMS clicked into another gear, scoring three tries in the space of nine minutes through Joe Duffy, Adam Stanford and Daniel Mortimer, giving the ladder leaders a 28-20 buffer.

Mortimer's try was particularly magical as Jack Buchanan found his captain with a nifty off-load.

With just seconds remaining, the captain-coach added a point to his side's tally before the rivals shook hands and walked off the field.

"That was the toughest game we've played all year," Jack Buchanan said.

"It was a big day for Orange and being an outsider coming in, they tell you all about these derbies at training. Every game I've played against Hawks has lived up to the hype.

"They're just tough through the middle and they've got classy backs. It's tough footy, but they're the games you love to play."

Throughout the week at training, Mortimer addressed a sloppy trend in creeping into CYMS' game lately, and Buchanan felt they rectified it on Sunday.

"Our second-half efforts have been poor lately," he said.

"We've really wanted to turn into a second-half team, so that was the main talk at half-time."

The triumph means back-to-back wins over top four opponents for CYMS, and they'll try to hit the trifecta next weekend when the Dragons come to town.

"Next week is massive for us," he said.

"We pinned these three as being big for us. If we can win next week, then that would be huge going into the bye."

It hurts to lose one local derby let alone three, but Hawks' leader Willie Heta was pleased with the side's commitment on Sunday, but knows it lacked polish at times.

"I'm happy with the effort, but errors and ill-discipline cost us that match," he said.

"If we just stuck to our structures and completed sets, I think we end up on the other side of that scoreboard."

Despite the derby struggles, Heta backs his side to compete with anyone inside the top four once finals time comes around.

"I've got full confidence in my squad and the whole club," he said.

"We're on the right path, we just need to win the right ones at the end of the season."

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