Bathurst St Pat's defeated Orange CYMS in Western league tag preliminary final

The two Group 10 heavyweight sides went toe-to-toe for a spot in the grand final, with St Pat's prevailing 28-14.

While a lot of the attention was on Meredith Jones and Erin Naden, Saints winger Maisie Bostjancic managed to grab a hat trick.

Bostjancic may have scored three of her side's six tries but she said it would be possible without gun players around her.

"They know what to do," she said of her teammates.

"There is always just an overlap on my side and if I just stay wide then they put me over the line."

Orange CYMS skipper Tori Moore felt her side just went away from their game plan and let a pair of Saints stars roll through them.

"They just started off too strong and we let them in," she said.

"We knew what we needed to do and we knew what their strengths are but we still let them get up the short side with Erin (Naden) and Mez (Jones)."

Things started off perfectly for the Saints at Glen Willow Oval, with Naden and Jones both crossing early.

But as the first half went on, Orange CYMS warmed into the game and hit back through Caitlin Prestwidge and Lily Stubbs.

Locked up at 10-all, Orange CYMS looked the better side and had all the momentum until an error inside their own half allowed St Pat's one final scoring opportunity before the break.

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With the clock winding down for half time, Bostjancic crossed for her first try of the morning with Mish Somers' conversion attempt going wide as St Pat's led 14-10 at the break.

While her side played some great football towards the end of the first half, Moore believes the last-minute try was a massive turning point.

"We were our own worst enemy with that one," she said.

"We had two minutes to go and made a mistake on our 30 metre line, we just let them straight back in.

"It would have been a different game I reckon if we were tied up heading into the sheds."

Coming out of the break, Saints looked bulletproof with Bostjancic and Sophie Stammers both crossing within two minutes of each other.

Trailing 24-10, Keeley Thornhill gave Orange CYMS some sign of life when she crossed to make it a 10-point game with eight minutes remaining.

However, CYMS couldn't capitalise on several breaks through the middle of the field, with a late Bostjancic try sealing the win.

After losing week one of the finals to Macquarie, Bostjancic admitted the Saints aren't strangers to having to do things the hard way.

"We did the exact same last year as well so it was kind of good to lose, just so we could be better this week," she said.

The Bathurst-based side will now face the winner of Macquarie's clash with Dubbo CYMS on Sunday and the Saints winger has an idea of who she would like to face.

"We have played Macquarie twice and we haven't played Dubbo CYMS yet," she said.

"So probably Macquarie."

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