PORT Pirates continued their domination of the Grafton Redmen at the Hay Street Rugby Fields on Saturday with a 23-10 victory.
The much-anticipated contest was a stop-start affair which was marred by overzealous officiating. In total there were 34-penalties which negated any chance of a free-flowing game.
Grafton opened the scoring through a Michael Wright penalty goal, however Pirates hit back minutes later with a perfectly timed backline move which saw their fullback slice through the opposition to score under the posts.
Port were awarded a controversial penalty late in the second-half after a Redmen player was yellow carded for attempting an intercept.
Pirates headed to the sheds with a narrow 8-3 lead.
Grafton hit back after the break when Pauli Bale, fresh off the bench scored to level up preceding’s at 8-all.
Wright gave the home side the lead for the first time nailing the conversion from out wide.
Another penalty to Port saw them reclaim the lead and minutes later they stretched their advantage to 16-10 after a wonderful team try.
Grafton were well and truly in the game however an unforced error by Grafton saw Port take full advantage to stretch their lead to 23-10 and seal an important victory.
The loss sees Grafton slump from second position to fourth on the ladder with eight rounds remaining.
