MURWILLUMBAH are outright leaders of the NRRRL ladder after Mullumbimby beat Tweed Coast Raiders 24-14 at Les Burger Field yesterday afternoon.

The Raiders, joint competition leaders ahead of yesterday’s loss, have slipped to third after Grafton Ghosts downed Cudgen 20-18 in a thriller on Saturday night.

The Mustangs now sit alone at the top of the ladder on 10 points and reaffirmed their status as premiership favourites with a 48-18 thumping of Lower Clarence Magpies at Maclean Showgrounds yesterday.

The Raiders, meanwhile, were out-enthused in a game they could have won, after leading 8-6 at half-time.

The Giants opened the scoring but the Raiders hit back with tries to second-rower Michael Sharp and then winger Chris Burger.

Burger was given a cute, back-hand flick pass by his centre Aaren Laycock then managed to get the ball down, just centimetres from the corner post, despite the attention of a couple of Giants defenders.

Tweed Coast were the better side of the first stanza but penalties and handling errors meant the Giants were still within reach at the break.

The Giants, the best-performed team the Raiders had faced since Cudgen in the opening round, were a good test for the home side who had shared the competition lead partly because of good fortune.

“That was our first big test, and we failed it,” Raiders coach Glen Winters said.

“I thought we did well to end the first half 8-6, after running into the wind, but in the second half we obviously didn’t match them in attack or defence.”

Mullumbimby opened the scoring in the second stanza thanks to the sheer desperation of their right-side backs, but Tweed Coast hit back through the combination of five-eighth Matt Riddle and fullback Ben Farrell, to lead 18-14.

Both sides had chances in the dying minutes but only the Giants stepped up.

“At 18-14 we should have gone on to win it,” Winters said.

“At the end of the day, we just didn’t aim up in defence.”

The Raiders entered the season with a group of green recruits to be guided by experienced co-captains Matt Riddle and Paul Abric, declaring they were “rebuilding”, but they are at home in the top half of the table.