PIRATES premiership dream gathered more momentum at Ken Chillingworth Oval on Saturday, outclassing Narrabri to claim their first home grand final since 2011.
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The minor premiers were clinical and polished in accounting for the defending champions 40-12.
“It's always good to get a home grand final. I'm ecstatic about that,” coach Mat Kelly said.
Kelly was equally delighted with what he saw from his side.
“It was a really polished performance,” he said.
There is “still work to do” but aside from a few missed opportunities, and some discipline issues, there was little to fault.
Their scrum was supreme, they starved the Blue Boars of possession and territory, they attacked with precision and really aimed up in defence.
“I thought our defence was great. They lost structure because we defended so well,” Kelly said.
The Blue Boars started the better and had the first opportunity for points but from the moment number eight Conrad Starr snuck over from a tighthead the momentum seemed with Pirates.
They had most of the territory in the first half and just inside 10 to go Starr, running in the outside channels, drew in the defence and freed up winger Damian Reti to score Pirates’ second try.
Minutes later prop Andrew Collins crossed from a penalty quick tap to extend Pirates’ lead to 19-nil at half-time. Ben Goodman stretched that to 26-nil five minutes into the second half when he crossed in similar fashion to Collins.
One of the strengths of the Blue Boars game is their ability to build pressure on their opposition, and midway through the second half they gave a reminder about what they can do with a bit of sustained pressure, with second rower Sam Kahl finishing off a left side play after about a five minute passage of attack.
Twice stung by a Blue Boars fightback, Pirates were quick to snuff out any chance of them getting on a roll, with half-back Amos Ioasa picking and driving through the Blue Boars defence a minute or two later. Mitch Bath then sealed the win with a runaway 70m effort after Andrew Mepham had plucked an intercept as the Blues Boars pressed their line.
Blue Boars coach Nick Lennon conceded Pirates were just too big.
“The scrums they have so much more weight and they were so dominant in the scrums,” he said.
“And on phase play they got their big guys on a roll and we couldn't pull them down.”
They also made too many mistakes.
“Our ball security wasn't very good,” Lennon said.