NINE years of derby pain finally came to an end for Tamworth at Tamworth Rugby Park on Saturday.
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Not without a few jitters for the Magpies faithful mind you, with Pirates throwing everything at them in the final minutes.
But the home side weren’t going to be denied and held on to triumph 35-30.
It’s been a long time since they’ve tasted victory over their cross-town rivals.
You have to go all the way back to the first round in 2006.
Pirates have had the wood on them ever since and drew first blood on Saturday through the boot of James Trappel.
The Magpies answered via a penalty try and, from there, had the running for most of the first half.
“We knew we had to come out and start well,” Magpies co-coach Mark Daley said.
It’s what cost them in the first round, with Pirates putting two tries on in the first 10 minutes.
Daley couldn’t have been happier with what he saw from them in the first half, aside from a late penalty which narrowed their lead to 11 at the break.
The forwards again really led the charge.
They were good rumbling through the middle. Their offloading ability also made life really difficult for Pirates.
“We’ve worked pretty hard on our ball-playing,” Daley said.
“We’ve got some really good running forwards and it was pleasing to see the transfer through the hands.”
He was also really pleased with the support play, suggesting that and their ball movement as what won it for them.
They led 24-13 at the break after Pat Strong and Mitch Wheaton played finishers to some brilliant attack from the Magpies to blow a 10-all score out to a 14-point lead in the space of a couple of minutes.
Pirates had the early pressure in the second half but Trappel was off target and missed a couple of penalty opportunities.
Eventually though it told, with Ben Goodman charging his way over to make it 24-20.
The Magpies had a couple of chances to push out again but unsuccessfully opted to go for touch and the lineout.
On the third, they changed tack and took the points to restore a converted- try lead.
Second-rower Simon Vumilagi extended that not long after and, when Strong landed his third penalty, the Magpies were looking comfortable at 35-20 with about 12 to go.
But Pirates weren’t handing over the bragging rights without a fight, and closed to within eight with Goodman crashing over for his second.
The Magpies were then reduced to 14 for the remainder of the match, with Vumilagi binned for an old-fashioned coathanger on Garrett Doughty.
Trappel missed the penalty but slotted one a couple of minutes later to give Pirates a sniff.
Pirates coach Andrew Verrell wasn’t sure where it went wrong.
“We always knew this would be a really tough task,” he said.
“But I thought we were in it right to the end.”
That said, the Magpies played well and deserved their win.
“They were the better side on the day,” he said.