ORANGE City’s defence of the Blowes Clothing Cup colts title it won in dominant fashion last season goes on the line on Sunday when the Lions’ under 20s travel to Dubbo’s No.1 Oval.

Securing their spot in the semi-finals after an 8-5 win over Emus in the final round of the regular season last weekend, the defending champs face an elimination semi-final against CSU Bathurst tomorrow, and will encounter sudden death football right the way through to the grand final, should the Lions progress that far.

The elimination road is in stark contrast to the way in which the  Orange City juniors went about last year’s successful campaign, where the Lion cubs won the minor premiership before accounting for the Bulldogs in the decider.

In third grade, Orange Emus will host Dubbo Roos in the qualifying semi-final at Endeavour Oval, to be played tomorrow.

Roos finished the regular season in second spot with 37 competition points, a whopping 15 points ahead of Emus on the ladder.

It’ll take a monumental effort for the greens to compete with the visiting Roos, while, in the elimination semi-final, Orange City tackles Mudgee in a do-or-die contest.

Bathurst Bulldogs were the runaway minor premiers in third grade, while in the colts Bathurst will also prove tough to beat, having progressed through the regular season undefeated, earning wins in all 18 games this winter along with 14 bonus points.