Nagusa copped the displeasure of referee Tihema Kawana at the end of the first half when Pirates were attacking the Border line. Kawana's impatience had already been mounting as the home side's desperate defence conceded a series of penalties around the rucks.
Border held a 10-7 lead at the break in a match which Richardson admitted could have gone either way, but it was Pirates who were ahead 17-16 as the game entered its final minutes.
And then an Ian Honeyfield try and Mark Davis' kicking skills then finally settled the issue.
"Goals are crucial and while Mark Davis missed a couple, he put them over when it counted," said Richardson.
"It was anyone's game but maybe we had a bit more passion and heart," added the coach who also noted another confident performance from teenage fullback Nick Harding who scored his sixth try of the season.
While disappointed with the result, Morris felt his team produced a more competitive display than in last week's defeat to Marton and picked out the efforts of Brad Matthews, Junior Tume and Sanele Ah Chookoon.
Pirates were without experienced playmaker Denning Tyrell who had arranged to take time off his prison job to play on Friday.
Border were keen to re-arrange the game for Friday night - as they did last year against Marist when they scored a handsome win and even more handsome bar takings - and leave the weekend free for duck hunting.
Morris said his players were happy with a Friday game but the Pirates executive had decided to stick with Saturday afternoon.
Perhaps they shot themselves in the foot - Border lost only one player to the ducks with Pirates missing the guiding hand of Tyrell, who was back on his shift.
No one was talking about revenge but, in a re-run of last season's championship final, Kaierau won 13-12 against Ratana, the team who out-muscled them in the 2011 showdown.
"The boys showed a lot of guts ... a lot of pride in the jersey," said delighted Kaierau coach Keith Savell.
On the debit side, his stretched squad was further hit by injuries to Jordan Farrington, Karl Pascoe and Josh Edwards.
Ratana coach Cornel Mason has been struggling for numbers as other commitments have depleted his pool of players.
Of the defeat, he correctly noted that his team had "lacked composure".
On the plus side, his switching of Jamie Hughes to first five-eighth, which had attracted some adverse comment at the club, proved a big success.
Ruapehu won their sixth straight match - 39-0 against Utiku at Memorial Park - to establish a nine-point lead at the top of the table, while Marton won their second straight match to prompt coach Bob Fittler to suggest they were on a roll.
Fittler praised the work of winger Jake Karaynidis, who kicked all the points in the 12-8 success against Taihape, and also that of prop Justin Lock.
However, the downside was the loss of Tanzanian prop Boaz Magege with a broken arm.
Report and results: Page 32
