Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League (NRRRL): Wrap, results, standouts from round five

The defending premiers have helped get their shaky start to the season back on track with an emphatic victory during round five of the NRRRL.

Cudgen turned on the fireworks in round five. Picture: DC Sports Photography

The wet weather once again has a big say on round five of the NRRRL as just two of the seven fixtures took place over the weekend.

But while there was a shortage of games there were still plenty of fireworks as two of the competition heavyweights piled on the points with big wins.

Catch up with a wrap below.

CUDGEN FLEXES MUSCLES WITH MULLUM ROUT

Joel Hare picked up a double in the Hornets’ big win. Picture: DC Sports Photography

Cudgen has sounded a huge warning to the rest of the competition with a stunning 64-10 thrashing of Mullumbimby at Ned Byrne Field.

Winger Malachi Dumas put together a highlights reel of his own with four tries as the Hornets played some sparkling football to run in 12 tries and record the biggest win so far this season.

Despite conceding 64 points, Mullum started and enjoyed a couple of repeat sets on the Cudgen line brightly in the opening stages.

The Giants had been competitive but Cudgen struck first 11 minutes in when fullback Jett Forbes created some space on the right edge and offloaded to Dumas to score.

The try seemed to trigger an avalanche of points as the Hornets went nuclear with a remarkable spell of football that saw the team score eight tries in just 28 minutes of football

In the very next set they were in again as Sam Togo and Forbes combined to get the team up field before Caleb Ziebell made half a break and offloaded to winger Blake Raymond to go over.

An error from Mullumbimby piled on more pressure for the visitors as Parker Bryant crashed over from close to the line.

Mullum must have known it wasn’t going to be its day when captain Cody Nelson managed to knock the ball down from the hands of Cudgen’s Jackson Rohweder, only for the hooker to pick up the scraps and scoot over to make it 22-nil after 25 minutes.

It was a very tough day out for Mullumbimby. Picture: DC Sports Photography

The nightmare only got worse for the Giants as Cooper Nelson put the kick-off out on the full.

Cudgen charged up field and when Mullum failed to clean up a Ziebell grubber kick, centre Joel Hare pounced on the scraps to score his team’s fifth try in quick succession.

The visitors hadn’t touched the ball for 10 minutes but the rout was far from over as the Hornets’ forwards charged up field with ease. A bit of magic from centre Cooper Cambey, who pulled off a brilliant flick pass, helped Dumas over for his second as Hornets surged to 30.

And while a Cudgen error from the kick-off finally allowed Mullum to get its hands on the ball again and complete a set, there was more damage to come as an inability to deal with a towering Ziebell bomb allowed Hare to score his second.

The errors appeared to be contagious for the visitors as another mix-up in the next set when trying to diffuse a Cudgen kick allowed Dumas to scoot through to complete a first half hat-trick and give the Hornets a thumping 42-nil lead at the break.

Mullumbimby would have been begging for the reprieve of the halftime break, however things didn’t change for the Giants after the restart, with a knock-on handing the ball over in a dangerous area and a beautiful cut-out ball from rookie five-eighth Callum Prichard putting Raymond over for his second less than two minutes into the second half.

It had been a disastrous game for the visitors but they finally got on the board after 50 minutes when winger Sammy Latu got on the end of a grubber from Jacob Miller to score.

The try seemed to give the side a lift as some nice balling playing and a clever flick from Miller put centre Kyson Freer over for the team’s second try in as many sets to make it 48-10.

However there was to be no reprieve for Mullum. Late tries to Jaxson Longa, Luke Toon and a flying Malachi Dumas, who shot through the air to pluck a Harvey Moase kick out of the air for his brilliant fourth try of the day, sealed a huge 54-point victory for the Hornets, who move into outright first on the table with five wins from five to kick off 2025.

Cudgen 64 (Dumas 4, Raymond 2, Hare 2, Bryant, Rohweder, Longa, Toon tries; Moase seven goals) defeated Mullumbimby 10 (Latu, Freer tries; Nelson one goal)

BALLINA SHUTS BYRON OUT TO SNAP LOSING STREAK

Ballina bounced back with a win in round five. Picture: DC Sports Photography

Ballina has snapped a two-game losing streak to return to the winner’s circle after comfortably accounting for Byron Bay 38-0 at Red Devil Park.

Star halfback Tyrone Roberts put on a playmaking clinic as the Seagulls ran in seven tries while keeping the home side scoreless in an impressive performance.

Fresh from a last-start loss to Cudgen, Ballina came out of the blocks firing as fullback Liam Green broke the line and sent the team up field with just the third play of the game.

A penalty gave the Seagulls a fresh set and Roberts converted that into points with a dummy and palm to score the first of the match after just 80 seconds.

Despite the early setback, Byron enjoyed repeat sets in the Ballina red zone. However the Red Devils just couldn’t break through, with Toby Marks held up over the line and Keaton White stopped just short.

Tyrone Roberts starred in Ballina’s win. Picture: DC Sports Photography

After weathering some pressure, Ballina charged up field courtesy of a break from Oliver Regan before a penalty gave the team another opportunity.

With a fresh set in the Byron 20, Roberts was pulling the strings as the defending premiers went over again 17 minutes in when he put in a perfectly weighted chip for a flying Anthony Colman to surge through for his team’s second and make it 12-0.

Things got worse for the Red Devils on the half-hour mark as centre Dan Gibson was sent to the sin bin for what looked like a playful trip on his former teammate Fred Pitt in backplay.

Former NRL star Roberts had been a class above and with another set on the Byron line he capped off his clutch first half with a pinpoint cross-field kick for Pitt to plant the ball down in the corner and give the Seagulls a 16-nil lead at the break.

It had been a dominant first 40 for the Seagulls and things continued in a similar vein after the break when hooker Caleb Kinna crashed over from close range five minutes after the restart.

A short time later Ballina was in again after Regan pounced on the scraps from a Roberts kick to put the visitors up 26-nil with half an hour to play.

The Red Devils had struggled to threaten the Ballina line for much of the match and the Seagulls compounded the pain late on as young lock Charlie Strong crashed over with a powerful run close to the line before going over for his second shortly after to cap off the big win.

The victory snaps a two-game losing streak in what has been an uncharacteristically difficult start to the season for the defending premiers, who now have a record of two wins and three losses for 2025.

Meanwhile Byron remains rooted to the bottom of the table as the team remains on the hunt for its first win of the season.

Ballina 38 (Strong 2, Roberts, Colman, Pitt, Kinna, Regan tries; Regan five goals) defeated Byron Bay 0

Originally published as Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League (NRRRL): Wrap, results, standouts from round five