On a day when the victorious 2010, 11 and 12 sides he was a part of relived their glory, Brendan Rixon became just the fifth person to play 200 games for the club.

At the other end of the scale Ryan Witherdin and Harrison Tufrey both made their first grade debuts.

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Making for a special moment, Tufrey got to pack down alongside older brother Joe in the front row for the last 13 minutes.

Importantly they also picked up the win, beating Walcha 50-12, to with Narrabri's 40-14 loss to Inverell jump to third.

Scoreless until the 64th minute in their loss to Inverell two weeks ago, Pirates set the win up in the first half. Toby Maslen crossed five minutes in and went on to bag a hat-trick as they took a 36-5 lead into half-time.

"We put it together in that first half," Rixon said.

"It's good to see what we can do when we actually do put it together and play the style of rugby we want to.

"We dropped off a little bit in the second half but Walcha are always pretty good and come back, they never give up."

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The Rams competed well in the second half and on balance probably had the better of the territory and possession, Pirates' illdiscipline preventing them from building the momentum they enjoyed in the first half.

It was the same old story of penalties and cards, finishing the game with only 13.

But on the whole it was a really pleasing performance, co-coach Evan Kellow said.

The big difference he noted from two weeks ago was their attitude.

"We weren't great at Inverell and I think we knew we had to turn up and play a lot better in that ,at least, first 15-20 minutes, and we did," he said.

"The start was fantastic."

"We just controlled the game early. We wanted to do that and had to do that."

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On the back of a strong set piece they were able to "build lots of phases" and earn "the right to go through them".

"We just need to be more consistent, that's the thing," Kellow said.

"We can turn on a performance like that and then unfortunately we've still got performances like Inverell in us as well."

He thought Maslen was an "absolute standout" for them.

"He was in everything," he said.

"I don't know how many carries he had today but he got three tries for it."

Jayden Kitchener-Waters' return at five-eighth also gave them that "little bit of direction".

"He and Brendan seem to have a really good combination there.

"The team looks good when they're both there," he said.

In the other game Gunnedah produced a miraculous comeback. From 27-7 down in the early stages of the second half, they stormed home to pip Moree 28-27.

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