The Pirates made the short journey to Leos to open their Merit Table campaign. Al Brown has a strong squad to pick from including several new faces in Herbie Milton, Rhys Cory, Tom Langan, Conner Spence and Isaac Walsh. After an even start, the Pirates scrum began to take control allowing some good ground making kicks from Jed Wolfram. A wild tackle on Louis Dabhi-Green led to Wolfram opening the scoring with a long distance penalty kick. 0-3 25 mins. Leo’s broke out from deep but the Pirates defended the line strongly. The referee brought the half to an end with the Pirates 0-3 up.
A charging run from Isaac Walsh led to another penalty for the Pirates, this time in from of the posts which Wolfram slotted to increase the lead. 0 6 42 mins. With the Pirates now pressing hard, a move broke down in the Leo’s half and the Leo’s winger hacked the ball on and won the chase for the touchdown. 5=6 50 mins. Pirates hit straight back by forcing a penalty close to the Leo’s line. A quick tap saw Will Smith charge over the line for the try, converted from out wide by Wolfram. 5-13 55 mins. Another Pirates move broke down on the half way line, and Leos broke away again to reduce the deficit to 10 13 after 65 mins. Pirates now had Leo’s pinned on their own line with a series of strong scrums and a desperate clearance was return by Dabhi-Green who was tackled just short of the line. From another quick tap penalty James Farrington got at the back of the driving maul to increase the lead with a try, converted again by Wolfram. 10-20 80 mins. The ref then blew for full time to leave the final score Leo’s 10 Pirates 20.
