They’ve got Inverell to negotiate this week, which won’t be easy, and then it will be into the second round where they’ll have the chance to avenge their one-point loss.

It was one that slipped away, with the only time they were behind the final whistle, with Blue Boars fullback Michael Cain nailing a penalty after the bell.

“We played well in patches,” Pirates coach Mat Kelly said.

“But we let them back in.”

Mainly through their ill-discipline, with the penalties topping 20.

It started from the opening whistle, conceding three penalties in the first three minutes, and really hurt them in the second half.

They had to play with 14 men for half of the second half.

“The two sin-binnings were costly,” Kelly said.

The Blue Boars scored twice during the second to erase Pirates’ 14-point lead.

“Obviously hands in the ruck was a big issue,” Kelly said.

“It’s hard to coach the competitiveness out of them. That competitiveness at the breakdown is one of their strengths.”

To their credit, he thought they showed good discipline to keep their heads and not let their frustrations boil over.

The penalties aside, Kelly was pretty happy with the way they started.

They had to withstand a bit of pressure early but held the Blue Boars out and looked like being the first to score after some sharp play from the backs about 13 minutes in.

From around half-way, five-eighth Brendan Rixon threw a flat ball to outside centre Andrew Moodie, who burst through.

Centre partner Andrew Mepham then brushed off the first defender and got the ball away to Damien Reti coming in from the right wing.

But it came to nothing when they were penalised for sealing off.

Conrad Starr put them ahead a few minutes later for the first of his three first-half tries.

It came from a scrum which they forced to buckle. Half-back Amos Ioasa almost backed his way over but was just held up but managed to get an offload away to Starr.

After conceding a try almost straight away, they then jumped out to a 21-7 lead. 

“It’s a shame we let that try in just before half-time. That opened the gate for them,” Kelly said.

He  couldn’t complain about their defence though. They showed why they have the best defensive record in the competition.

“We can back our defence,” he said. “Yet again it kept us in the game.”

The attack was also good in parts.

The heavy track did cut down their time and space.

“It was good to see Damien Reti have a fantastic return,” Kelly said.

The former Manly back is back in Tamworth for a while and, after coming off the bench in second grade, was into the action early, replacing Colby La Chiusa on the wing after about five minutes.

He showed some brilliant touches and more often than not beat the first tackle.

Ioasa also continued to impress at half-back. 

He was the players’ player and got Kelly’s three points ahead of Ben Goodman and Brendan Rixon.