Orange CYMS take out West Wyalong Knockout with thrilling comeback win over Temora

Tallon Smith

Orange CYMS has taken out its first West Wyalong Knockout title with a 12-6 win over the Temora Dragons in the final at Ron Crowe Oval on Saturday evening.

CYMS had to fight back from a 6-0 half time deficit after Tyler Madden gave Temora an early advantage.

However, the Orange outfit timed their second half run perfectly, with Dylan Kelly crossing for a try following a clever scoot from hooker Jack Nobes to level the scores, before middle forward Mitch Collins crashed over to give CYMS wnat was ultimately a winning lead with four minutes to play.

Orange CYMS coach Jack Buchanan said that the win was a momentous one for the Orange club, which has sent many talented teams to West Wyalong in the past only to come up short.

“It’s obviously a pretty prestigious knockout, and it’s held in very high regard at Orange CYMS,” he said.

“Obviously we’ve had quite a few great teams in the past that have come up short here, so to be part of the first winning team in Orange, it’s a massive feat and great start to the year for us.”

2026 West Wyalong Knockout Champions Orange CYMS (Photo: Supplied/Orange CYMS)

With Temora opening the scoring with a converted try and carrying a 6-0 lead to the break, CYMS instantly needed two scores in the second half to avoid losing the match due to the competition’s first try rule that already used as a tiebreaker in the Campbelltown City v Woden Valley game earlier in the evening.

However, despite the scoreboard pressure heading into the final 15-minute half of the tournament’s championship game, Buchanan said he was more concerned about the way his side had played in the first half, and always had the belief they could turn it around.

“I wasn’t super worried, but I was just more frustrated with the way we were playing, I think the occasion got the better of us early on, and I was more disappointed in that we weren’t getving it our best effort,” he said.

“I just said to the boys at half time ‘get back to what we did well and what we’ve been training for and trust our process’.

“I still had full confidence that we could come away with it and credit to the team as a whole, they bought into that, they listened and we came out on top.”

West Wyalong president Matt Goodwin with Orange CYMS assistant coach and 2005 West Wyalong premiership coach Ryan Prevett (Photo: Instagram)

The knockout marked the first appearances for Blake Ferguson in CYMS colours after joining the club from Wellington over the off-season, with the former Australian representative scoring the opening try in each of CYMS two previous matches.

However, in the final, it was two locals who shone brightest for the Orange side when it mattered most, with Nobes setting up the first try, before Collins sealed the deal.

“The first one, Jack Nobes, if he’s not one of the best hookers going around in the country, I don’t know, he deserves more credit and accolades,” he said.

“He was looking like he was going to retire after last year, so he was a massive in for us.

“We actually laid up for that try for Mitch Collins, he’s big, he’s powerful, he’s strong and I was confident that he was going to get over, and once he did, obviously [I was] excited, but I looked at the clock and there was still four minutes to go.

“Anything can happen, and obviously right down to the wire there Temora were still hitting it at us with seconds to go, it’s never over until that siren goes, so even though we were up in front I was still knowing the job was only half done.”

Hamish Starr was one of Temora’s best over the weekend (Photo: Tahlia Crane)

On the other side of the ledger, the Temora side shocked many in going within score of the crown but ultimately fell just short.

First-year Dragons coach Jordon Burley said that he was impressed with how his side performed and implemented many of the things they have spent the off-season working on.

“The boys have been working really hard at training, we started pre-season pretty early in the new year and we’ve identified a few areas that we need to improve on, so we’ve been really drilling some stuff into us” he said.

“I think we showed a lot of that this weekend which was good and [we] played some really good footy in patches.

“[There’s] definitely promising signs for the year, still a lot of work to get done and to improve on, but we’re definitely on the right track.”

Although the Dragons’ victories over Tullibigeal-Lakes United and West Wyalong were impressive, the biggest upset on their run to the final was their 14-4 defeat of last year’s Peter McDonald Premiership runners up Forbes.

Burley said the team had faith in its game plan, and executed when it mattered to secure passage through to the final, whilst also praising the teams from his native Group 20 that Temora faced earlier in the tournament.

“We just knew if we could complete and hold the footy and play our brand that we’ve been working on that we should be able to compete against anyone,” he said.

“We show a lot of self-belief, and I thought that showed against Forbes, and no disrespect to the two Group 20 clubs, don’t you mind, they really pushed us in that first and second round, they were really physical games and we had to fight ooth and nail to win all three games.

“But it definitely gives us confidence going into the season playing some really good opposition in Orange, who we really put it up to.

“I thought we played really well and we just fell away right at the end.”

A large crowd packed into Ron Crowe Oval for the finals (Photo: Andrew Smith)

Meanwhile, the 53rd edition of the state’s pre-eminent pre-season tournament was once again a major success for the West Wyalong club.

West Wyalong secretary Leesa Bryant said that this year’s knockout was “exciting” for the clubs involved, the crowd and the broader rugby league community.

“The players and supporters brought such a massive vibe to Ron Crowe Oval,” she said.

“We were thrilled to have filled all 16 spots, [and] disappointed when Yanco had to withdraw, but these things happen.”

Earlier, Orange CYMS qualified for the final with a 14-0 win over Macarthur League side Campbelltown City.

Tries to Blake Ferguson and Rhys Draper, as well as a perfect three from three with the boot from Tobias Westcott saw CYMS book their spot in the big dance.

Meanwhile, Temora’s aforementioned semi final win over Forbes was secured by tries to reigning Group 9 Weissel Medallist Hayden Philp and new signing Khaileb Cameron-Pani.

Those matches came after Temora eliminated hosts West Wyalong in the first quarter final of the day, and Orange CYMS got the better of Young 18-6.

The full tournament results are listed below.