Pirates coach Mat Kelly described Saturday’s match against Scone as scrappy but it didn’t stop Pirates from getting the points at Ken Chillingworth Oval.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
On a day when Pirates were collecting donations for the ‘R U Aware, We Care’ drought relief campaign, the home side did what they had to on the field to claim a 40-19 win over the Brumbies.
For Kelly, there was plenty to like from the win. Namely the return of Andrew Moodie from injury.
He came on for a 30-minute stint in the second half on Saturday which resulted in a try for the fly half.
“It was great to see Andrew Moodie return,” Kelly said.
“It was there for everyone to see. Once he got back at 10 and started leading things around, he was quite influential.
“That was especially great after all the work he’s done to get back. That was really pleasing.”
Another pleasing aspect of the game was Bart Leach’s performance.
The prop played a full game for Pirates and most of the first half was played with his head taped up to stop the bleeding after he copped a knock.
He also took over the throwing duties from Tim Collins who also got a knock.
“There’s not many footy sides at this time of year without niggles and all that sort of stuff. It’s part of what we do and it’s blokes like Bart Leach, who gets a broken nose every week, who keep on keeping on,” Kelly said.
“Another 80 minutes from him. I thought he was fantastic up front and showed some great ticker.”
Pirates scored the first try of the game five minutes into the match through Conrad Starr on the back of a scrum close to the Scone line.
It wasn’t until just before the 20-minute mark that Pirates crossed again.
Jack Shelton muscled his way over from close range to make the score 14-0.
The Brumbies missed a penalty goal a couple minutes later but soon crossed for points when Josh Whale caught Pirates off guard from a tap.
Another try to Starr would round out the scoring for the half to give Pirates a 12-point buffer.
It took 11 minutes for a try to be scored in the second stanza but the first triggered a mini-blitz for Pirates.
They scored three in 14 minutes with Andrew Wynne, Moodie and Starr, who finished his hat-trick, all crossing for five-pointers.
Pirates shot to a 40-7 lead and they also lost Simon Trappel, who was yellow carded, in that time.
The Brumbies then found their spark late to cross for a pair of tries.
The first was by Harry Morrow who broke through the defence on halfway before pinning the ears back and finding the line out wide after evading the chasing defenders.
Then, close to Pirates’ line, a cross-field kick was battered back to James Roach who scored a diving try in the corner.
Pirates’ Jackson Sharpe was yellow carded late but there would be no more points scored in the match.
