Peter McDonald Premiership 2023: Dubbo CYMS defeated Macquarie 20-4

The two proud Dubbo clubs squared off in all four grades on Sunday, headlined by the Peter McDonald Premiership clash which CYMS claimed 20-4.

Macquarie held their annual Perry Meredith Round, with one player in each team wearing the Raiders 13 jersey to honour the much-loved club man.

In seasons past, the Dubbo derby has been a fiery encounter but this year it was a stop-start affair with both sides making errors consistently.

CYMS coach Shawn Townsend has seen his fair share of matches between the two clubs and felt Sunday's clash wasn't exactly easy on the eyes.

"It hasn't been a good quality game for years now these ones," he said.

"They are a bit of a scrap, there are a lot of stoppages in the game. Both sides dropped a fair bit of ball, there was no momentum or flow during the game.

"That's probably indicated by the score, it was a frustrating game to watch."

Macquarie's Alex Ronyane wanted his side to turn up for the full 80 minutes prior to the game and felt his side let a few chances slip.

"We felt like we were right in it," he said.

"With CYMS we know that you have to play the full 80 minutes and they capitalised off our mistakes.

"We gave away a few too many penalties but that's the game."

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CYMS prop Ben Marlin opened the scoring for the match, crashing over in the ninth minute with Jeremy Thurston adding the extras.

Both sides went back and forth for the next period with Macquarie camped inside CYMS' 20m area but couldn't break through.

Raiders winger Charlie Kempston went close to scoring for his side but just couldn't hold on to the final pass.

Marlin's prop partner Jarryn Powyer crossed over next after beating several players out wide to score as Thurston again converted.

A Tyson Fuller try got Macquarie back into the match just before halftime as the Raiders trailed 12-4 at the break.

Coming out of the sheds, CYMS managed to score off a brilliant Jordi Madden pass over his head to find Tom Hughes open to extend their lead to 16-4.

From there the two clubs got back into the grind, Ronayne and Jack Kavanagh looked to inspire the Raiders with their play but penalties and errors hurt them.

Hughes grabbed his second try of the match late in the half, with CYMS finishing comfortable victors.

After losing to Parkes in their last clash, Townsend was a bit happier with how his side fared but knows there is work to do still.

"It was the same as last week against Parkes, we just had a bit more resolve about us this week," he said.

"We had a lot better effort this week but we didn't kick well again, we gave away a few seven tackle sets."

On what was a massive day for Macquarie as a club, Ronayne said the loss had a bit of an extra sting.

"It's very disappointing that we couldn't get the two points for Perry," he said.

"He was the heart and soul of this club but credit to those boys.

"They are the kind of people we want to be playing at the end of the year."

DUBBO CYMS 20 (Tom Hughes 2, Ben Marlin, Jarryn Powyer tries; Jeremy Thurston two conversions) defeated MACQUARIE RAIDERS 4 (Tyson Fuller try)

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