IT would have been easier to jot down who made a tackle than who didn't at Stuart Park on Saturday.
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In the wash-up, Port Macquarie Pirates missed a few less tackles than their Kempsey Cannonballs counterparts in a crushing 86-40 victory.
Pirates had more to lose as they still have finals to play for while the Cannonballs were already sipping cocktails at a post-season holiday destination of their choice.
In a match that saw a point scored every one and a half minutes, defence wasn't high on anyone's agenda.
Pirates coach Nigel Harding was satisfied with the result, but far from satisfied with his team's effort without the ball.
"It was like a game of AFL," he said.
"Our defence was woeful; we can score points but we leak them too. There's no defensive pattern."
Harding said while he enjoyed his team's structure in attack, they still had plenty of work to do in defence.
"We scored some flamboyant tries, but you've got to have a bit of pride in defending your line," he said.
"We were flamboyant in both attack and defence; they scored 14 points when they were down a player."
The coach was frustrated at Pirates' lack of respect when they didn't have the ball.
"We're worse off now than we were in round one defensively and I'm not sure we can fix it at this stage of the season," he said.
"We've got a week off and we'll work on the nuts and bolts ahead of the game against Coffs next week."
Despite the lopsided scoreline that wouldn't have caused Hastings Valley too many sleepless nights, Harding said he was unsure how his side would shape up mentally at the business end of the season.
"It's a very talented squad, but the most disappointing thing is that we should be able to match it with the Vikings," he said.
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