NO-ONE likes losing a derby but with the amount of injuries his team sustained in Sunday's Peter McDonald Premiership clash St Pat's coach Zac Merritt isn't losing any sleep over his side's second defeat this year to Bathurst Panthers.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The 26-14 defeat saw four St Pat's players leave the field injured before half-time, with wingers Matt Beattie and Call Naden picking up leg injuries and front rowers Josh Hanrahan and Hayden Bolam also falling victim a physical opening half of the derby.
Pat's were able to lead 10-4 at half-time but the pressure from those injuries began to take its toll on the team.
Sin bins to Cooper Ackroyd and Caleb Wardman overlapped over a five-minute window that left Pat's with just 11 players on the field.
Panthers ran in three tries when they had a player advantage.
"It was rough. In the first 20 minutes we had no interchanges," Merritt said.
"That's not to take anything away from Panthers. When you get two sent off and you've got no subs that makes it tough, so I'm very, very proud of the effort from the 13 remaining players who were out there.
"Obviously I'm not happy that we lost but they didn't lay down."
It remains to be seen how severe the injuries are.
"Both wingers have lower leg injuries. We're not too sure on the extent of them," Merritt said.
"Haydo's knee just blew up, he was no chance of getting back on, and Josh Hanrahan had a leg injury as well. Josh should be okay, but he was in a bit of pain there.
"You're not usually carrying wingers on the bench, so then you're starting to shuffle blokes into positions that they don't normally play, so I can't fault the effort.
"We'll wait and see with Hayden. He seems positive with it but he's also a bit sore still."
The result has knocked St Pat's outside of the top two on the Group 10 ladder, with Orange Hawks' victory over Lithgow Workies putting them ahead of the Saints.
Group 10 teams will have a bye next weekend, which will be welcome respite for the Saints given their injury toll.
Reading this on mobile web? Download our news app. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you alerts for breaking news as it happens. Download in the Apple Store or Google Play.
