The Westport Club sponsored Port Macquarie Pirates came away with another win in a hard fought match against Southern Cross University Marlins played at Stuart Park, Port Macquarie last Saturday. The full time score was 26-7 in favour of the home team.
The Marlins were coming off three straight wins and were pumped for the match.
The Pirates jumped away to an early lead with a try to Tim Platt in the 8th minute of play. The reliability of Platt at fullback is now extended to his try scoring ability. His ability to size up his attacking options and then put his skills to work has been a mainstay of the Pirates attack this year.
Platt initially crossed the line near the corner posts. He did not ground the ball as the defence passed over him but then scampered closer to the posts before finally grounding the ball and giving Sam McNeill the opportunity to extend the lead to 7-0.
Jacob Law was over the try line one minute later with try that showed his strength close to the line.
Chris Geary put a further Pirates try on the board in the 14th minute and with the conversion the Pirates went to the break with a 21-0 lead.
The second stanza of play had the Marlins first on the board with a converted try that had then back in challenging distance of the Pirates.
The game then devolved into a series of melees amongst the players which saw referee Michael Tonks and his assistant referees intervening in the match.
The match was disjointed from this point with neither team able to develop any continuity in their play.The Pirates put the game beyond doubt with a try in the 20th minute by Joel Rabbidge which had the Pirates with a 26-7 lead which remained as the final score.
The Marlins did play strongly but the Pirates showed their class and managed to remain in front of the visitors despite not completing some attacking moves.
Lachlan Bassett in his first full senior grade game had an outstanding game and was rewarded with three points in the best and fairest competition. He was closely followed by Lucas Webb and Tim Boyle. Tim Boyle was also voted the Players player for the match.
Bassett may well prove difficult to dislodge from the first grade team when other front rowers return from unavailability.
The Premier Grade match between the Pirates and Marlins resulted in a convincing 43-0 victory to the Pirates.
The Pirates were never challenged by the visitors. The Pirates had skipped away to a 26-0 lead by half time and kept the pressure up in the second half to record the 43-0 victory. Peter Sales was again the outstanding player in this grade, again being voted the players player. Sales could expect to challenge for inclusion in the First Grade team with further improvement in his fitness.
Michael Zucker and Joel Riddle also showed strong form in the victory. Brendan Reed on the wing for the Pirates is proving himself to be a winger of the future with his near impeccable finishing of try scoring movement by the Pirates.
The Under 18 team had the benefit of a forfeit by the Southern Cross University Marlins team.
They did not lose the opportunity to play rugby on the day with club president Steve Shields bringing them into his Presidents XV match against the Vintage Ports Golden Oldies team.
In an exciting match that pitched experience against youth the match ended up a well deserved 5 all draw.The experience of the Vintage Ports included former players Jeremy Reichelt, Bruce Thompson, Leon Anderson and Paul Smith.
Best for the Presidents XV were Tom Blanch, Michael Mooney and Rhys Martin.
