Central North Rugby Round 12: Gunnedah run in 38 points in the second half to beat Quirindi 59-36

As the ladder stands there is only 13 points between front-runners Narrabri and sixth-placed Moree and only seven between first and fifth.

Of the Red Devils' last five games, only Scone, which won't be an easy assignment by any means, aren't in the finals frame.

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After the bye this weekend, they have fourth-placed Pirates (away), Walcha (fifth-home), the Brumbies (away), Narrabri (home) and the Bulls (away).

They head into the bye in second and just two points shy of the lead after seeing off a strong challenge from Quirindi on Saturday.

Up by just four at half-time, the Red Devils kicked away in the second half for a 59-36 win.

In a similar assessment to their game against Barraba the previous week, coach Dan Martin said when they played to their systems they looked good.

"When we controlled the ball and we stuck to our systems it worked well," he said.

He said there "were some lapses there" and they did some "silly" things at times such as being offside or lazy at the breakdown, which "brought them (Lions) into the game".

But he was overall a lot happier than he was with the performance against the Rams. The Lions too were a tougher opposition.

Despite the slender lead at the break, Martin said he wasn't really too worried.

"I thought we had enough control, it was a matter of getting into what structures we're trying to play," he said.

They did, and ran in 38 points in the second half.

Martin said the backs were pretty influential.

That was reflected on the scoreboard with the backs accounting for six of their eight tries.

"When they stuck to our systems and started moving the ball around they gave space to the backs," Martin said.

He is hoping to get a few more players back after the bye. While a few have started filtering back in in the last couple of weeks - half-back Steven Leuta made his return on Saturday after missing the last three games, Martin said they have "still got a number to come back".

He counted probably five in the backline, and is preparing for "some selection headaches" particularly with the way the backs played on Saturday.

Back after a couple of weeks off, Martin said Ron Hobden was good for them at breakaway. Jamie Mitchell also had a strong game at inside centre as did five-eighth Marcus Hayne.

It was a mixed bag for the Red Devils in Quirindi with second grade being rolled by the bottom-placed Lions 27-10.

The women's 7s side meanwhile won both of their games at the gala day at Barraba, beating the Rams 21-12 and Narrabri 29-5.

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