Pirates led for less than a quarter of the match, but were in front when it counted as the premiers sealed the minor premiership with a dramatic 28-24 win over Walcha on Saturday. The Rams almost pulled off the unthinkable from a 45-point drubbing in the first round, but Pirates showed their champion quality and rallied to snatch the points from the visitors. It was a titanic tussle and played with a real finals intensity, with neither side willing to take a backwards step. T

The performance mightn’t have been up to their usual standard, a bit ugly in their summation even, but Pirates got the win over a determined Scone at Ken Chillingworth Oval on Saturday. The Brumbies were one of the premiers’ toughest tests in the first round and proved so again, with the 43-19 scoreline not fully illustrating how hard Pirates had to work for the points. The Brumbies took the fight to them, and at times appeared to have them rattled with the competition leader

It took the Pirates just over a minute to score in their Central North Rugby Union clash against Inverell and while they didn’t keep that ridiculous strike rate up for the full 80, the Pirates gave it a good shake. By game’s end, Pirates had run in 15 tries to two in an 80-14 drubbing. We do have some good depth there and some great young talent coming through.- Mat Kelly on the Pirates' bench Captain Conrad Starr lived up to his name with four tries while Bart Leach was the