University Pirates claim 100+ point win and suffer 60 point defeat in same afternoon

An NT rugby club perfectly captured the dichotomy of sport as its senior men’s teams triumphed and suffered defeats in tremendous fashion.

University Pirates had one of the most unusual rounds of senior results in recent memory.

The rugby union club epitomised the duality of sport as its B-grade side suffered a 60-0 defeat the same afternoon as its A-grade team won 108-5.

As is the case in the Top End, most A and B sides have a fluid relationship with players, meaning a decent chunk of players will play two games on the same day.

However at the weekend – Round 6 – the A and B grade teams were not playing at the same ground.

Scrum between University Pirates and Darwin Dragons A-grade teams. Picture: From The Sideline Sports Photography.

“This was one of the rounds where our A and B sides weren’t playing at the same ground,” Butcher said.

“Our Bs were down in Katherine while we (As) were at Marrara playing Darwin.

“So essentially our squads were split with a lot of the juniors playing in the Bs.

“Katherine always turns it up a gear when they play at home so we knew they’d be up against it, and the heat didn’t help out much either.”

Not diminishing the efforts of either side, Butcher gave Katherine its flowers while propping up his rebuilding team.

“Katherine made all of their plays and chances stick while we had too many errors and they played very well,” he said.

“The Bs are still yet to win a game this season but they’re still learning and the scoreboard wasn’t entirely an accurate reflection of the game; nonetheless we fell short.

Back in Darwin the A-grade result was a whole different story.

After a 4 and 0 start to the season the Pirates have been the form side of the competition.

Robert Butcher in the processing of fielding the loose ball while under pressure. Picture: From The Sideline Sports Photography.

“It’s definitely a huge score but we were on from the first play,” Butcher said.

“Everyone was working great and doing what they were meant to do and under our new coach Paul Healy we’ve been doing a great job of staying focused and not losing our way while not giving our opponents a chance to come back if we’re in front.

University held Darwin scoreless until the 28th minute when they crashed over after a lineout in the left corner.

At 21-5 with 50 minutes to play the game looked primed for a Dragons fight back.

However that was quickly quashed as University added 17 points to leave the margin 38-5 at the break.

“Like our B side Darwin were down some players and also had a couple of injuries during the game so they played a fair chunk with about 13 or so on the field,” Butcher said.

“But at the end of the day it was definitely a strange weekend of results.”