CNRU Round 7: Gunnedah humble Pirates 47-7

In front of a star-studded crowd that included former Wallaby Richard Tombs and respected commentator Gordon Bray, and a busload of former players up from Sydney for the game, the Red Devils not only beat Pirates for the third straight meeting but humbled them.

The 47-7 win was an emphatic statement and a stunning turnaround after being beaten by Inverell the previous round.

"It's amazing what they can do when they turn up and play," coach Dan Martin quipped.

"The attitude was just chalk and cheese, they wanted to be in the fight from the word go."

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That was really highlighted to him midway through the first half when they lost Will Burke to the sin-bin.

At that stage it was 7-all.

Not only did the Red Devils hold Pirates out, but they scored themselves, inside centre Elijah Sufia scoring the first of his double.

"That was one of the more pleasing things, to be able to put points on when we went down a man," Martin said.

"Knowing in years gone by that was when Pirates would have put two tries on you."

From there they kicked away to a 22-7 lead at half-time.

They then put the foot down in the second half, running in four tries in the space of about 20 minutes.

It was Martin said the best they have played across the 80 minutes this season. The "30 minute gallop against Moree in the second half" was pretty good, but it is an 80 minute game not 30.

The defensive effort was for him one of the highlights, especially after conceding five tries the previous week.

They stuck their tackles, and importantly, made sure they got Pirates' runners to the ground so they "weren't able to get a roll on".

Then when they had opportunities, they made sure they turned them into points.

Emori Waqavulagi was a standout, the winger scoring three tries, one of which for he stepped around seven or eight Pirates players.

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"He's just quick and he's just got such good balance when he runs," Martin said.

Pirates co-coach Mick Squires said they were simply "completely outplayed".

"Sometimes you can have losses where you can find excuses, yesterday wasn't one of those," he said.

"We were beaten by a better football team."

There wasn't one specific area he could put his finger on; "every little aspect", he said they were "off the mark".

"We were just a little behind them in everything we did and they played some really good footy," he said.

He had said leading in they would "know where we're at" come full-time.

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"We thought we were in a good place after [the win over] Narrabri, but yesterday gave us a reality check that we've still got a way to go," Squires said.

Skipper Conrad Starr scored their lone try, and along with Nick McCrohan "couldn't have done any more". But not many others put their hands up.

The win wasn't enough for the Red Devils to depose Narrabri from top spot after they beat Walcha 53-12 with Felix Johnson and Linton Grumley both scoring doubles.

Asesela Ravuvu meanwhile bagged four tries as Moree accounted for Scone 38-nil to post their second win of the season.

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