In an encouraging first-half, the Thunder went into the sheds trailing 13-10 after an impressive opening 40.

Gradually Pirates wore Wauchope down and cruised to victory.

“We were playing against a forward pack that weighed 60 or 70 kilos more than us and it eventually took its toll,” Minor said.

“There is no doubt Pirates have the best scrum we’ve come up against, so there were a heck of positives for us.”

Minor was encouraged by the performance of the backline although they were hindered in the second half.

The loss of Aaron Robinson to a torn hamstring in the shadows of the break also threw the Thunder’s structure out and Pirates took full advantage.

“He was having a whale of a game and when he went off it really hurt us,” Minor said.

“Our structure failed after that.”

Minor said the Thunder were then starved of possession in the second half and were powerless to stop the avalanche of points.

“We had hardly any ball in the second half and Pirates are up there with Coffs as the go-to teams and they made us pay,” he said.

“But it was a far better game from us; we showed we can play for one half, now we need to do it for two.

“We’re not far away from a win. A team will underestimate us and we’ll make them pay.”

Pirates coach Chris Young was pleased with the way his side responded to his challenge at the break.

Once they eliminated their errors and ill-discipline, Pirates settled into their groove.

“If we had have delivered in the second half what we did in the first half we would have got rolled,” Young said.

"We were pretty poor, but we knew they would be at their best in the first half and it was good we delivered on what we spoke about.”

Fullback Korie Paio was solid in his first game back from a calf injury and Young was also pleased with the efforts of new signing Pete Gowler.

“Korie just gives us that x-factor,” he said.

“He scored one or two tries and I was happy with how he went in his first game back because you never know with a calf injury.”

The forward pack laid the foundation for the second-half pointscoring blitz, although Young said no-one “really stood out.”

“We’re still working on our combinations; we’ve never had the same side two weeks in a row,” he said.

“We should have just about everyone on deck from next week.”

Former Port Macquarie Shark Dave Geary had his first game for the Pirates at five-eighth and barely missed a beat.

“He was good for us,” Young said.