Pirates win willing derby against Tamworth

On a day honouring those who served their country and are still serving, Pirates survived their toughest derby test for years to get their first points of the season.

The 34-21 win also saw them add the Mates4Mates Shield to their season chest, with the day raising funds for the charity.

There was little charity on the field though, with the exchanges getting heated at times.

The frustration of last week’s disappointing performance saw Pirates come out firing, with centres Garrett Doughty and Jake Douglas crossing inside the first 10 minutes.

That was where they won it in the end.

The Magpies were always chasing the game from there and could never really bridge that 14-point deficit, for long anyway.

Douglas was instrumental in both tries. He made the initial break that led to Doughty’s, proving every bit as slippery as his nickname – Snake.

Five-eighth Sam Collins then turned a lovely ball inside to Doughty.

Tamworth looked destined to hit straight back but Pirates scrambled to turn over Harry Veitch almost on the line.

They were rewarded minutes later, with Doughty and Douglas combining.

Tamworth replied through a stepping outside centre Lewyn Rapana and looked to be getting themselves back in the game before Pirates winger Sam Bowden intercepted as they tried to attack the short side.

It made it 21-7, a penalty after the bell from James Trappel stretching the lead to 17 at the break.

The Magpies were down to 14 for the first 10 minutes of the second half after Sam Wheaton was binned for a high shot that led to that late penalty, but came out the better side.

They looked a lot sharper and threatening in attack, and drew first blood, with Sanimo Navatu crashing over just a few minutes in.

Pirates quelled the fightback with a try to Conrad Starr on  half an hour to go and, while the Magpies kept coming at them, they never really looked like being beaten.

“That was 100 per cent on last week,” a much happier coach Andrew Verrell said.

“We talked about intensity, structure and defence.”

All three elements were there.

“They implemented what we did this week,” he said.

There were still some elements he was unhappy with, but he thoughttheir first 30 , particularly,  was good.

The improvement started up front.

“The scrum was better, the lineout was better  – the defensive lineout was good,” he said.

“And the back starters were good and got us back into the game.”

For the Magpies the start was what cost them. 

Magpies coach Kevin Rooney felt the occasion got to his side a bit.

“It was a big moment. Magpies v Pirates is a big moment, then you’ve got Anzac and all the build-up,” he said.

They just lacked that bit of experience to deal with that.

“Once we got rid of all of that we settled into a nice game,” Rooney said.

“I think everyone saw that Magpies’ brand of rugby is running.”

He said they never really felt out of it, it was just the small things and reaction time that let them down.

Veitch was again brilliant for them. Second-rower Nick Lyons was also outstanding in both attack and defence.

Douglas was judged the player of the match and hard to go past as their best.