Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League Rd 12: wrap, results, talking points
One team managed to snap a 1000-day hoodoo against their local rivals, some big guns dug deep for wins, while some stunning tries lit up the comp during round 12 of the NRRRL.
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With the race for the finals heating up, a couple of big guns were forced to come from behind to claim wins during a round in which some stunning long-distance tries were scored.
Elsewhere, one team broke a 1000-day hoodoo against their local rivals, while another continued its excellent run of form.
With our snappers out and about at Oaks Oval, catch up with some photos of the weekend’s action, along with a wrap of the results and the main talking points from round 12 with the NRRRL Seven-Tackle Set.
1) Big guns come from behind
A couple of the competition’s big guns were forced to show some mettle and come from behind to record wins over the weekend after being pushed by their opponents.
At Stan Payne Oval, last year’s grand finalists Evans Head were trailing Mullumbimby 22-18 early in the second half before a blistering last 25 minutes saw the Bombers cross for five tries to run out 42-22 winners and keep the team on track for a finals spot.
Meanwhile at Murwillumbah, defending premiers Bilambil were similarly forced to come home late in its 30-12 victory over the Mustangs.
In what was a tight opening period, Murwillumbah hit the front early in the second half to lead 12-10, only for the Jets to show their class in the final 25 minutes with three tries of their own to seal the match.
2) Bell goes coast to coast
One of the highlights of the Bombers’ victory over Mullum came in the final 10 minutes.
With Evans Head leading 28-22, the Giants were pushing hard to draw level. Attacking the Bombers’ line, Mullumbimby attempted to put in a chip over the top, however Evans Head veteran Roy Bell anticipated the kick perfectly and jumped to pluck the ball out of the air.
From here, Bell, who spent a couple of years with South Sydney in the NRL back in the mid-2000s, took off up field. With the desperate Giants defenders in chase, Bell extracted every last bit of speed out of his 38-year-old legs to go coast to coast and score in the corner to seal the match.
3) Dirawongs beat the flu and Rams to break hoodoo
Northern United claimed bragging rights over local rivals Marist Brothers for the first time in three years with a 32-16 victory in the Lismore derby at Oakes Oval.
The win was the Dirawongs’ first over their neighbours since 30 August 2020, a whopping 1043 days, when they prevailed 34-22 at Crozier Field.
While the Rams have had the wood over the Dirawongs in recent times, including winning the Trophy final last season, the clubs have had vastly differing fortunes in 2023.
Despite finishing eighth last season, Northern United have arguably been the biggest improvers in the competition, and currently sit equal first (third on points difference) with Ballina and Bilambil with just one loss and 10 wins so far this season.
Meanwhile it has been a noticeably tougher time for Marist Brothers, who after claiming the Trophy final last season to finish seventh, are currently sitting in 11th position with just three wins and eight losses.
Despite the recent form, the Rams started strongly and stayed with their more favoured rivals in the first half, scoring first and trailing just 18-16 at halftime.
“Their first half was good,” said Northern coach Chris Binge. “They were obviously up for the game in itself, the local derby.”
However the Dirawongs showed their class in the second half, scoring two more tries to take out the win.
And while pleased with the two competition points, Binge says he was impressed with the club’s depth and resilience amid a slew of late absences.
“We had five players pull out on the morning of the game with the flu,” he said.
“The proof in the pudding was with our league tag team at the start of the day, we only had one young lady on the bench. We had six girls out with the flu and five fully fledged first graders out on the weekend.”
To compound things, the Dirawongs were also missing both Allan McKenzie and Ray Buchanan to one-week suspensions.
In fact, Binge handed a first grade debut to 17-year-old front rower Jahleal Brown, while 18-year-old outside Alistair Faulkner also stepped up into the top grade in what was an impressive show of depth.
“We didn’t want to make any excuses on the weekend,” he said.
“We started our season, from pre-season to now, with a squad mentality rather than an individual mentality. We aren’t a team that is reliant on one or two individuals. We are a squad.”
4) Tweed Coast hitting form
In what has been a mid-table logjam for most of the season, Tweed Coast is starting to pull away from the pack following an excellent last couple of months.
The Raiders are in fourth place on 16 points. And while they are still six behind the leading trio of Ballina, Bilambil and Northern United, the Cabarita boys have put four points between them and seventh-placed Cudgen as they look increasingly likely to book a ticket to the finals.
After a tough start which saw the team win just one of its first four games, Tweed Coast has now won three straight and six of its past seven as combinations gel and the side builds plenty of confidence.
5) Things getting tough for Mur’bah
On the other end of the scale, it is looking increasingly tough for Murwillumbah to make the finals following its loss to Bilambil.
Last year’s minor premiers are back in 10th position on nine points, four behind Byron Bay in sixth.
And while the Mustangs have the guaranteed two points from the bye to come, they have a tough run home that includes Cudgen, Tweed Coast and Bilambil again, with the team likely to have to win all remaining games to give themselves a chance.
6) Casino turn on the magic
They might not have won, but Casino certainly turned on the razzle dazzle in its 42-20 loss to Tweed Coast with some excellent tries.
Midway through the second half Ryan Walker left five Raiders in his wake with an excellent 50-metre solo effort.
With Casino on halfway and spreading the ball to the left, Walker took the ball and came back in on the angle, first beating one defender, then another, before busting through two would-be tacklers and then finally stepping past the fullback to score an excellent try.
A few minutes later the Cougars were at it again, with Eddie Walker-Williams showing plenty of skill and athleticism to score a length-of-the-field try.
With the Raiders attacking Casino’s line, Walker-Williams did very well to pick up a loose ball one-handed just five metres out from his own line. The fullback put on a lovey step in the same action to evade two defenders, before putting on the afterburners to power past his opponents to score in the left corner in what was a brilliant 95-metre swerving run.
Although Casino didn’t go home with the two points, they certainly left the crowd at Les Burger Field entertained.
7) Stars add to the highlights reel
The Cougars weren’t the only team responsible for some flashy football over the weekend, with a slew of spectacular tries being scored across the comp.
At Red Devil Park, Ballina’s Zac Beecher did it all himself with an excellent 55-metre effort against Byron Bay.
Taking the ball centre field at first receiver, the Seagulls fullback put on a lovely step to cut through the defensive line, before standing up his opposite number Riley Baharov with a goose step to run through and score.
Meanwhile at Ned Byrne Oval Cudgen put on some magic of their own with an excellent 70-metre team effort.
A great offload put centre Luke Dumas away down the left edge. He turned the ball back into Jackson Rohwedder, who in turn passed the ball on to Jordan Kempnich in support to score under the sticks.
ROUND 12 WRAP
There were plenty of shifts in momentum during round 12 of the NRRRL, with some of the competition frontrunners forced to come from behind to record key wins, while another side needed to rely on its defence to overcome its stubborn local rivals in a derby clash.
Elsewhere, the points flowed as some teams turned on the afterburners, while one side was overcame a first half send-off to claim the points at home.
Catch up with a wrap of the action below.
Bombers sink Giants with late blitz
A blistering final 25 minutes has kept Evans Head on track for a finals position with a 42-22 victory over Mullumbimby at Stan Payne Oval.
Brandon Anderson and Roy Bell both bagged doubles as the Bombers scored five second half tries to come from behind to down a stubborn Giants side.
Buoyed by their thrilling last-gasp victory against Cudgen last weekend, Mullum were sharp out of the blocks and scored first when they spread the ball left from an attacking scrum for winger Mason Davies to go over in the corner.
The home side hit back shortly after when some smart play from hooker Matthew Toole put a charging Aidan Kennedy over to give his team a 6-4 lead.
The Bombers went back to back in the very next set, with an attacking bomb from Bell well taken by Brandon Anderson, who then offloaded to Chad Banks to score and give his side a 12-4 lead.
However in what was a seesawing first half, the Giants hit back with a try to Tom Sowerby, before Bell scored for Evans Head to give the home side an 18-10 lead at the break.
Just like they did in the first half, Mullumbimby came flying out of the blocks with an early try to Tommas Gibson, with another to Wayde Kelly giving the visitors a 22-18 lead.
Just when it looked like Mullum were going to run away with the game, the Bombers flipped the match on its head with a remarkable five tries in the final 25 minutes to run away with it.
It started in the 57th minute when a nice spread to the right saw Brandon Anderson score in the corner and lock things up at 22-all.
Five minutes later a great break through the middle and quick play the ball from Lachlan Kennedy got Evans Head on a roll, with an excellent spread to the right putting the unlikely figure of prop Josh Beech over on the edge.
The Bombers then sealed the game with 10 to go with one of the most spectacular tries of the game.
With Mullum pushing for an equaliser and right on Evans Head’s line, a Giants’ chip kick was plucked brilliantly out of the air by Roy Bell, who showed enough speed in his 38-year-old legs to run the length of the field and score in the corner, much to the delight of the home fans.
The Bombers then turned the afterburners on in the final stages, crossing for two more tries to put the icing on the cake in the entertaining victory.
Evans Head 42 (Anderson 2, Bell 2, A Kennedy, Banks, Beech tries; Bell three goals, Leaupepe Perkins one goal) def Mullumbimby 22 (Davies, Sowerby, Gibson, Kelly tries; Kelly two goals; Singh one goal)
Jets shoot down Mustangs
Bilambil have kept their impressive run going at the top of the ladder with a 30-12 victory over Murwillumbah.
The Jets scored three late tries to seal the win after the Mustangs led early in the second half.
Needing the two points to keep in touch with the top six, Murwillumbah got off to the perfect start with Aaron Booth bursting over in just the third minute.
However Bilambil hit back on 12 minutes when a lovely spread to the left saw fullback Oliver Regan cross in the corner.
The Jets went down the left edge again 10 minutes later to hit the lead, with some nice work from Lachlan Garner creating an overlap for Blake Graham to give his side a 10-6 advantage, which it remained at the break.
The Mustangs once again came out of the sheds firing and hit back seven minutes after halftime, when hooker Brandon Ewing caught the Jets defenders napping with a big dummy close to the line before scooting over to give his side a 12-10 lead.
But Bilambil showed why they are on top of the table, and midway through the half jumped in front again when Garner once again spotted a gap in the defensive line and powered over for a try himself.
Murwillumbah pushed hard for another and would have scored if not for some desperate goal line defence from the Jets.
After soaking up the pressure Bilambil went down the other end to seal the match, with a lovely flick pass putting Regan over for his second with just over 10 to play, and Jacob Hind crashing over from close range to cap off the victory.
Bilambil 30 (Regan 2, Graham, Garner, Hind tries; Regan five goals) def Murwillumbah 12 (Booth, B Ewing tries; N Ewing two goals)
First half burst sees Seagulls beat Red Devils
Ballina has kept pace with its rivals at the top of the ladder with a 34-12 victory over Byron Bay at Red Devil Park.
A four-try first half set up the win for the Seagulls, who were forced to soak up some early pressure from the fired up home side.
In what was old boys’ day for the Red Devils, Byron came out of the blocks firing and had all the chances in the early stages.
But as so often happens, it was Ballina who opened the scoring midway through the first half when Anthony Colman did well to palm off a defender and offload to centre Dan Gibson to score.
This was then compounded when the Red Devils kicked dead from the restart. The Seagulls certainly made them pay when winger Rowan Mansfield showed way too much strength to power over in the right corner to put his side 10-0 ahead.
Ballina then rubbed salt into the wound on the half-hour mark when Byron Bay spilled the ball coming out from their own end, only for the Seagulls to spread it wide straight away to winger Fred Pitt to score.
The visitors then put the game to bed on the stroke of halftime when halfback Jared Lofts found his way through a gap in the Red Devils’ goal line defence to help his side to a 22-0 lead at the break.
The Red Devils were the first to score in the second half when Kolbi Wood ducked over from dummy half, but 10 minutes later a 55-metre solo effort from Zac Beecher retained the halftime lead.
The teams traded tries in the final 20 minutes, with Ballina maintaining their spot at the top of the ladder.
Ballina 34 (Gibson, Mansfield, Pitt, Lofts, Beecher, Kinna tries; McClintock five goals) def Byron Bay 12 (Wood, Whittington tries; Stocks two goals)
Raiders pull away from Cougars
Tweed Coast has maintained its spot in fourth place on the ladder after a 42-20 victory over Casino at Les Burger Field.
Hooker Dan Willoughby bagged a double as the Raiders ran in eight tries to four in what was the team’s third-straight win and sixth in the last seven games.
Willoughby kicked things off in perfect fashion for the home side, backing up on the inside to score after just six minutes following a break down the right edge.
The Raiders crossed again 10 minutes later when a nice grubber from Josh Bowden found Reef Sommerville in the corner, while in the very next set Javahn Te Whaiti put the team 14-0 up when he scored in the opposite corner after a nice cut-out ball.
Ryan Walker pulled one back for Casino before a wonderful cut-out ball from Bowden put Spencer Jackson over to give Tweed Coast a 20-4 lead at halftime.
It was much of the same early in the second half with Brandon Matthews and Will Robinson crossing to give the Raiders a 30-4 lead with half an hour to go.
From here the Cougars launched somewhat of a fightback, scoring three tries to two in the final stages, with Walker crossing for his second and Eddie Walker-Williams and Jeremy Torrens also scoring in what was an improved final 25 minutes.
Tweed Coast 42 (Willoughby 2, Sommerville, Te Whaiti, Jackson, Matthews, Robinson, Terekia tries; Matthews three goals, Terekia one goal) def Casino 20 (Walker 2, Walker-Williams, Torrens tries; Walker-Williams two goals)
Dirawongs claim bragging rights in Lismore derby
Northern United won bragging rights over its Lismore rivals Marist Brothers with a 32-16 victory in the Lismore derby at Oaks Oval.
Two quick tries after halftime proved to be the difference in the tough contest, with the Dirawongs forced to turn the Rams away several times in the second half.
It has been a tough season so far for Marist Brothers, however they got off to a perfect start, forcing a goal line drop-out in the very first set of the game.
They then doubled up with the first try in just the second minute, when Mitch Krause carried two Northern defenders over the line to open the scoring.
However the Dirawongs showed their class just five minutes later when Clarence Kelly backed up on the inside to score after a nice break down the left edge.
Northern United then hit the lead on 15 minutes when a nice cut-out ball from Desmond Ferguson put centre Tim Torrens over.
However the Rams were showing plenty of resilience and made it a two-point ball game midway through the first half when Harry Brown scored.
In an entertaining first half William James then went all himself with a dummy and step to score, before Krause once again showed how dangerous he is with the ball in hand, stepping past a couple of would-be defenders to score underneath the sticks and leave the scores at 18-16 at halftime.
While the first half was a tight affair, Northern United showed why they’re equal top of the ladder in the second by asserting their dominance on the match.
Clarence Kelly scored his second after a nice spread to the left, before Hezekiah McKenzie gave the Dirawongs more breathing space with half an hour to play, showing too much speed to get on the outside of his defender to score.
While Northern United have gathered plenty of headlines for their razzle dazzle attacking football this season, the team was forced to rely on its goal line defence to get home as Marist Brothers came home strong.
The Dirawongs held the Rams up over the line twice as Marist Brothers had several sets on their opponents’ line, however were unable to break the resistance.
Northern United 32 (Kelly 2, Torrens, James, McKenzie; Ferguson six goals) def Marist Brothers 16 (Krause 2, Brown tries; Hawkins two goals)
12-man Hornets down the Turkeys
A 12-man Cudgen has returned to the winner’s circle with a 46-6 victory over Kyogle at Ned Byrne Oval.
Winger Nick Andreas scored a hat-trick and centre Luke Dumas a double as the Hornets overcame a first-half send-off to run away with the comprehensive eight-tries-to-one victory.
It started after just six minutes when a nice cut-out ball put Dumas over in the corner.
Three minutes later the Hornets really turned on the magic with a wonderful 70-metre try. A great offload put Dumas away down the left edge, before turned the ball back into Jackson Rohwedder, who in turn passed the ball on to Jordan Kempnich in support to score under the sticks to make it 12-0.
Everything was going smoothly for the Hornets until the 33rd minute when a brain snap left them with 12 men.
With the team working its way out from its own line, former Canterbury, Parramatta and Melbourne playmaker Ben Roberts stepped into dummy half.
The 38-year-old appeared to stand on the stomach of Kyogle’s Sam Nicholson, who was lying down in the ruck, trying to get out of the way after making a tackle.
Footage then seemed to show Roberts lashing out at Nicholson a second time with his foot before the referee blew a penalty and sent him off for striking.
Despite being a man down it didn’t appear to hinder the Hornets, who crossed again two minutes later when Andreas scored to give the side an 18-0 lead at the break.
It was all one-way traffic after the teams came out from the sheds, with Cudgen scoring a remarkable three tries in a six-minute period through Andrew Battese, Andreas and Dumas to go ahead 30-0 and well and truly put the game to bed.
Connor Ziebell barged over to give his side another, while Kyogle finally got on the scoreboard at the death through Damian Wilson.
Cudgen 46 (Andreas 3, Dumas 2, Kempnich, Battese, Connor Ziebell; Moase seven goals) def Kyogle 6 (Wilson try; Hardy goal)
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