Teammates lift after Moree Bull sees red

The Bulls had to play almost 50 minutes a man down after inspirational breakaway Ben Colley was red-carded for his part in a fracas with just over six minutes to go in the first half.

But Pirates couldn’t press their advantage and, after conceding the lead, regaining it, and losing it again before powering their way to the front again, the Bulls held on to win 28-11.

“It was good. It was tough to do it (play with 14) for so long,” a tired Bulls coach Damien Kelly said.

Pirates were a bit dishevelled and had to do some late rejigging after stand-in half-back Zeb Buchanan’s car broke down at Singleton.

It did have an impact but the base of their problems was up front.

The Bulls had Pirates backpedalling from the first scrum. From there their intent was clear.

Several times in the first half they had a penalty and either opted for the scrum or lineout.

But their dominance was to no avail and it took until the final minutes for the Bulls to finally add to Heath Riggs’s early penalty.

Similar to their earlier meeting with Pirates, they dominated territory and possession in the first half.

They were virtually camped on Pirates’ line for 10 minutes at one stage and made some good inroads with their pick and drive.

Yet they couldn’t break through the Pirates defence, even with the benefit of a string of penalties.

That eventually wore thin and saw Doug Biffin binned.

Still, though, the Bulls couldn’t get over the line, and when they lost Colley a few minutes later, it looked like that might come back to cost them.

The ensuing penalty saw James Trappel land his second for Pirates to lead 6-3.

Not surprisingly, the momentum started to swing but, with under two minutes to go, the Bulls finally finished off an attacking raid with centre Jordon Cosh crossing.

Riggs was unable to add the extras but it gave the Bulls a two-point buffer at the break.

Adding further insult for Pirates, Michael Carr was binned for a late hit in the earlier part of the play, rubbing out their numbers advantage for the first 10 minutes of the second half.

They couldn’t have  asked for a better start to the second half though,with Conrad Starr finishing off a brilliant breakout from within their half less than two minutes in.

That got them back in front and you got the sense that the game might open up.

But the Bulls seemed surprisingly unencumbered by Colley’s departure and locked the scores back up with over 25 to go.

“We played like we had 15,” Kelly remarked.

At 11-all, it was anyone’s game and, tellingly, the decisive play came from the Bulls’ scrum.

Even one down they had it over Pirates and, with 15 to go, scored a pushover to hit the front.

Pirates’ chances of replying were hindered by their ill-discipline and their task was made even harder when Riggs nailed his third penalty.

James Wilkinson then sealed the win after Pirates coughed up the ball trying to return a kick.

Pirates coach Andrew Verrell knew they’d struggle in the scrums and, through a combination of that and other factors, “couldn’t put pressure on them at all”.

“That effort from Moree was pretty good, and to lose Colley,” he said. “They played to their strength, which was their forward pack.”