Mur'bah Mustangs thump Turkeys
DAMIEN Quinn once again showed all his class with a dominant display in the centres for the Mustangs against Kyogle on Saturday.
Heavyweight Murwillumbah Mustangs forward Tim James honed in on the Kyogle Turkeys try line in uncanny fashion on Saturday, planting the pill over the white line on no less than four occasions in their Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League game at Stan Sercombe Oval.
James' man-of-the-match performance steered the Mustangs to a comprehensive 34-16 win over the Turkeys who looked a big chance of causing an upset with a whole-hearted effort in the opening 40 minutes.
The Turkeys trailed only 12-6 at the break and 12-10 soon after the resumption but the Mustangs dominated over the final 30 minutes and ran away with it on the paddock and scoreboard.
Long-time Mustangs supporters Steve Lateo described James' performance as one of the most dominant individual displays he'd witnessed watching football in the district.
"He was fantastic," Mr Lateo said.
"Those four tries were only part of his contribution as he absolutely terrorised them (Turkeys) with his bullocking runs and rugged defence in the rucks.
"His first two touchdowns were typical forward play - getting the ball close to the try line and barging over with a couple of defenders hanging off him.
"But his second came after he raced after a Nathan Jordan grubber kick in-goal and won the chase to the ball but his final try was even better.
"Tim was put through a hole on the 20m by Damian Quinn, outpaced the cover and then neatly stepped around the final defender to score - it was a delight to watch."
Also shining for the Mustangs were Quinn, who was given a lot of room to dictate the attack thanks to slick service from Matt Goodfellow at five-eighth and fullback Dylan Smith, who was all class in getting to the kicks quickly and running the ball back.
In other NRRRL results over the weekend, Marist Brothers 34 d Casino 10, Northern United 40 d Lower Clarence 30, Ballina 46 d Evans Heads 10 and Grafton Ghosts 38 d Mullumbimby 10.
Intrust Cup
TWEED Heads Seagulls remain in the hunt for a coveted top two semi-finals berth with an impressive 30-14 win over Northern Pride at Cairns' Barlow Park on Saturday.
The victory was the Seagulls' first at the Pride's home ground since 2008 and broke the home side's five game winning streak on home turf this season.
The Seagulls currently sit in fourth place on 19 points on the competition ladder behind Wynnum Manly (26), Redcliffe Dolphins (24) and Easts Tigers (20), however they have a game in hand which will be played next Sunday at Piggabeen Sports Complex where they will host struggling Burleigh Bears.
Bycroft Cup
TUGUN Seahawks turned a 16-point deficit into a comfortable 44-22 win over Runaway Bay Seagulls at Boyd St on Saturday.
It was a big game for Runaway Bay as they looked to keep in touch with the top five and for the first 40 minutes they were on track to record a victory.
They led 22-6 at one stage but then handling errors gave Tugun enough possession to score points and get back into the match and eventually run away with it.
"Runaway Bay turned up ready to play, as we knew they would," said Seahawks coach Selwyn Apanui.
"The first half tactic was to obviously use the wind to turn us around and they were just too enthusiastic."
Half-time was probably the best thing that could have happened to Tugun as it gave them a chance to regroup and get back to the game plan, which is exactly what they did.
"We just knew we had to play at the other end of the field and stop giving away silly penalties," he said.
"It's a lot easier to score tries from 20m out than from 100m out."
"We knew if we just stuck to the game plan we were good enough to finish on top and that's how it panned out."
Meanwhile down at Currumbin's Galleon Way the Eagles picked up another prized scalp, posting a shock 26-20 defeat over the in-form Southport which was only their second loss of the season.
In other Bycroft Cup matches Bilambil Jets defeated Tweed Coast 58-10 and Burleigh Bears downed Cudgen by 38-8.
Gold Coast Soccer
TWEED Valley King's Premier League premiership aspirations came to an end at Reg Dalton Oval on Saturday when beaten 4-1 by Burleigh Heads.
TVK languish in 8th place on 13 points, well astern of the semi-final hopefuls.
There was better news locally in the first division where both Tweed United and Murwillumbah FC scored impressive wins.
United blitzed Tugun 5-0 at Betty Diamond Field and front-running MFC opened up a three point gap at the top of the ladder in tossing Pacific Pines 5-1 up at Brockman Way Sports Ground.
FNC Rugby Union
MURWILLUMBAH kept alive their slim semi-final prospects with a resounding 36-5 defeat of Mullumbimby on Saturday in their Presidents Cup competition fixture.
The gentleman dominated all over the paddock and were always in total control in handing in probably their best performance of the season.