Peter McDonald Premiership: Macquarie Raiders defeat Bathurst St Pat's

Back-rower Reynolds scored the final try in Macquarie's 41-26 victory over Bathurst St Pat's, a result which keeps alive the finals hopes of the Dubbo side.

The Raiders started the second half down 18-10 and with captain-coach Alex Ronayne in the sin-bin but they managed to score twice inside 10 minutes of the restart and they stayed in front from there.

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The hosts were leading 33-26 inside the final five minutes when Reynolds, who found himself at dummyhalf, caught the defence napping and simply darted over to kick-start celebrations for Macquarie players and fans.

"It's been a long time coming but they should have known when I was in dummyhalf I was never passing," Reynolds said with a smile post-game.

"It's been a few years. We had the COVID period (of no competition) so that doesn't count but the last time I scored one was probably when I was out at Gilgandra."

While Reynolds' try might have been a point of joy for the Raiders, there was a lot to like about the side's complete performance.

After a disappointing loss at Lithgow last weekend, the Raiders considered Sunday's match a must-win as they entered round nine three points off the top four.

The victory, combined with Nyngan's shock loss to Orange CYMS on Saturday, means Macquarie could be in the Group 11 pool's top four next weekend should results go their way.

"That was massive," Reynolds said of the result.

"We let a very important result slip away from us last weekend and we should have won that game.

"But especially coming into the back-end of the year now, it's so close and there's Nyngan, Wello and ourselves are fighting for third and fourth.

"Every game is a must-win for us and beating St Pat's, they're a quality side, that will help us go in the right direction."

The disappointing second-half from Pat's was completed in the final minute when frustrations got the better of halfback Willie Wright, and he was sin-binned after clashing with Ronayne.

That moment came after the Pat's halfback had collected Billy Gilbert high earlier in the half, an incident which led the Raiders scoring via Luke Michael and extending their lead to 32-18.

Sunday's result marked successive losses for St Pat's but despite that and the way his side fell away against the Raiders, captain-coach Zac Merritt wasn't panicking.

"It's not concerning," Merritt said.

"It's just about getting the attitude back on and addressing a few little things which have crept in.

"We're still sitting second (in Group 10) ... but we've got some things to address.

"But we know our best footy is in front of us. We had a good run with four wins straight and then since the break we've fallen back into some old habits but we'll address that and it's onto Orange CYMS next week."

Merritt failed to finish the match due to a groin complaint and could be a doubt for next week while there were also injury concerns for Macquarie.

Tyson Fuller left the match early and didn't return while Gilbert exited the match after being hit high by Wright in the second half.

As well as being binned in the final minute, Wright was also put on report for rushing in and grabbing Ronayne by the collar after some strong defence from the Raiders back-rower.

"We down to 12 players at one stage when Aka (Ronayne) was in the bin and we had a couple go off injured so everyone had to put their hand up late on and we dug deep," Reynolds said.

After a much-needed win, Macquarie will be further boosted by co-captain-coach Jack Kavanagh's return from suspension next weekend when the Raiders meet CYMS in another hotly-anticipated Dubbo derby.

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