By DAVID ARNOLD
LAST Saturday saw the Noosa Pirates travel to Beerwah to take on Bribie Island in a match which is crucial to their finals chances for 2016.
With a near full squad to choose from, coach Scott Christensen was quietly confident of victory.
Things didn’t go according to plan early as Bribie came out all guns blazing and led by four points after just three minutes of play.
However fullback Ben Hayes restored order in the eighth minute for the Pirates and when Lauchie Gladman scored and converted in the 16th minute the Pirates had a handy six point lead.
Ben Hayes scored his second try in the 23rd minute and a drubbing looked on the cards.
Bribie struck back on the stroke of half time as the Pirates held a slender six point lead at the interval.
Centre Aaron Locke scored almost from the kick-off in the second half to extend the lead to 10 points, yet Bribie wasn’t to be denied and scored just two minutes later.
Coach Scott Christensen continued on his try scoring spree this season in the 43rd minute to virtually seal the game for the Pirates.
Second rower Alex Clare got in on the scoring act in the 50th minute and when Utility Player Chris Burgess made a barn storming run in the 57th minute to barge over the line for his first try as a Pirate, the writing was on the wall.
The Pirates scored at will with Winger Darren Hall and 5/8 Hayden Trask adding the final touches to what ended up being a decisive 44 points to 20 victory.
Although the game was a somewhat scrappy affair at times the result sees the Pirates knocking on the door of the top teams and with what appears to be a favourable draw in the coming weeks, the future looks brighter than it did just a week ago.
Saturday evening saw the U18s travel to Coolum to take on a Representative side from Outback Queensland in an exhibition game as part of the Coolum Carnival.
Although not knowing about this game until late last week, which was originally scheduled with a bye, the boys more than acquitted themselves against a team which was picked from various parts of Queensland.
No official scoring took place but the yet to be beaten 18 points to 16 showed that these young men are on the pathway to something special.
This Saturday sees the Pirates travel to Nambour to take on the Crushers in what promises to be a very entertaining game of rugby league.
Kick-off is at 4pm.
The U18s are having a well-earned break for a couple of weeks but they are set to continue with the fine work they have been displaying.
