CNRU Round 5: Pirates hold on to prevail a thriller against Narrabri 29-24

So it was no surprise that when they needed someone to step up on Saturday that it was the man wearing the No.8 that did, as they hung on for a heart-stopping 29-24 win over Narrabri.

It was a rollercoaster ride at Ken Chillingworth Oval with twists and turns right up to the final whistle.

Starr looked to have sealed it for Pirates when he crossed for his second try to push them out beyond a try advantage with four minutes to play.

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But as Blue Boars coach Jake Packer had touched on during the week they are an "80 minute team", and exploiting their numbers advantage, with Pirates prop Andrew Collins off with his second yellow card, Will McDonnell found some space outwide to make it a five point game and set up a tense final minute-and-a half.

Pirates supporters' hearts were then in their mouths as, after the siren, Blue Boars five-eighth Jacob Nichols ghosted through into open space. But chasing back Starr brought him down and then got back on his feet to win the turnover and secure a memorable win.

"I can't explain the relief," breakaway Nick McCrohan said post-match.

He was visibly spent after what was "the longest 80 minutes" he has played "in a long time".

"I can't be prouder of these boys, they turn up every time," he continued.

They really had to (turn up) with the Blue Boars throwing everything at them and their illdiscipline leaving them undermanned for almost half of the game.

Unbeaten before Saturday, the Blue Boars played with real enterprise and were rewarded for some good continuity and pressure early with Linton Grumley scoring off a driving maul to put them ahead 5-nil.

Under the pump, Pirates' illdiscipline was causing them all sorts of problems and saw them go down to 13 for 10 of the last 14 minutes of the first half, their frustration seeping into their attack and manifesting into pushed passes and simple errors.

But, not for the first time down on troops, they rallied.

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"Funnily enough I think that 13 men kind of worked in our favour," McCrohan said.

"Everyone seemed to find another gear."

They scored quick back-to-back tries to tie up the scores at 12-all at half-time.

Starr then put them in front for the first time in the game early in the second half.

But just as it looked like they were starting to get a bit of ascendency, Blue Boars winger Felix Johnson produced his second sensational effort of the game. Charging down an attempted chip and chase, he scooped up the loose ball and raced away to reclaim the lead 19-17.

A few minutes later Pirates found themselves down to 14 with Collins given his marching orders, but were able to strike immediately with Jye Taggart bursting through a hole to make it 22-19 in their favour with 20 to play.

It remained that until Starr's second.

He was immense for them as was McCrohan.

Returning to the side after a training mishap resulted in him missing last week, he was everywhere. He even spent a bit of time in the front row, pushing in there when Collins went off.

"I've been working my hardest not to get back there," McCrohan joked.

"But little bits like that you can't really escape it".

Packer was really happy with his sides performance.

"I loved our game," he said.

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"Literally a couple of things there that we need to fix, and we walk away with the win today rather than the loss."

He thought they were the better team and lost the game rather than Pirates winning it.

"We just let them in, those little lapses in the first half to bring them back to 12-all," he said.

He put that down to a bit of inexperience in those tight games to close it out.

But they will "take away a lot", he said.

No side is now unbeaten after Gunnedah also suffered their first loss of the season with Inverell pipping them 31-29. Quirindi meanwhile beat Scone 27-19.

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