Throughout the course of 2021, the Brumbies became notorious giant-killers at their home ground.

With this in mind, Pirates co-coach Mick Squires knew his squad could not afford to be overconfident, despite sitting four spots higher on the ladder than their last-placed opponents.

"We knew that we'd have to go down there and earn it," Squires said.

"We went down there last year thinking that we'd win, and we didn't ... we were confident that we could win, but we were more worried about ourselves. We were coming off a poor performance against Gunnedah."

The Pirates' 47-7 loss against Gunnedah came in round seven, which, due to a bye and the June long weekend, meant there was a gap of three weeks between Tamworth's two most recent games.

So when the score was 19-14 for much of the first half, the Pirates coach was wary of what the next passage of play might bring.

A couple of late tries pushed Tamworth's lead out to 31-17 at half time - better, but certainly not in the clear.

However, in the second term, the visitors' fitness gave them an edge as they ran the Brumbies ragged and stretched the score out to 62-17 by the end of the game.

"We played some good footy, so that was pleasing," Squires said.

"There's obviously going to be harder games ahead, but it's nice to get a bonus point win and it was nice to run some points up for our for-and-against."

The Pirates will next take on the Quirindi Lions this Saturday. Like Scone, the Lions are ranked low on the ladder, but Squires knows all to well the threat they pose.

"Even though we beat them in the first game of the season, they were really willing opponents in the first half," he said.

"So we're expecting another tough game this weekend."

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