North Tamworth Bears beat Gunnedah Bulldogs 26-24 at Jack Woolaston Oval

As he so often is, Norths No 9 and captain Scott Blanch was the difference - scoring two darting dummy-half tries in quick succession early in the second half, the first when the Bears were down to 11 men.

Those inspirational efforts gave the home side the momentum that carried them to a 26-24 win, with Blanch rising to the occasion three days after his grandmother's death.

While gallant Gunnedah's winning streak was snapped at two matches, North Tamworth won their seventh straight game and remain atop the table after 13 rounds.

The Bears have not lost since second-placed Dungowan edged them in round six, which followed the mighty club losing to Kootingal-Moonbi the previous round.

Since then, the new-look Bears have been imperious as they look to extend their premiership record to seven straight titles.

Gunnedah, meanwhile, were not behaving like a team who just lost, after returning to the dressing sheds late on Sunday afternoon.

Read also:

And while they dropped from sixth to seventh place on the ladder, after Werris Creek's win over Manilla on Saturday, there was a sense that their revival was still intact despite the loss.

Nursing his baby daughter Marlee post-match, Bulldogs prop Linc Smith - the player of the match - said the side's improvement was "crazy".

"The positivity around the field is massive," he said. "From where we were, to where we are now, is crazy."

North Tamworth played 45 minutes of the match with 12 men, and 10 minutes with 11 men, after No 1 Livinai Tuicakau and No 3 Misaele Vakacegu were sent off and sin binned, respectively, following a melee late in the first half.

It was Tuicakau's first game back from suspension: he was rubbed out after a melee against Moree in round eight at Jack Woolaston Oval.

On Sunday, it was 10-8 at half-time after Bulldogs winger Sam Lavis scored in the 39th minute when No 7 Dylan Lake executed a pinpoint cross-field kick. That was the second of Lavis's three tries for the match.

With the Bears down to 11 men, Blanch had too much heat on his 43rd-minute dummy-half dash for Gunnedah to handle. And when he burrowed over seven minutes later, Norths led 20-8.

Gunnedah struck back swiftly when they regained the ball from the subsequent kick restart and immediately scored via winger Jared Heinrich: 20-12 Bears.

In the 60th minute, Bears back-rower Josh Schmiedel charged at the Bulldogs' tryline and off-loaded to his former Macquarie Scorpions teammate Jared Edwards, who scored. No 7 Mitch Sheridan converted: 26-12 Bears.

But the Bulldogs surged. First, Lavis scooted over in the 64th minute. Converted O'Brien: 26-18 Bears.

And then in 69th minute, Norths failed to defuse a kick and No 9 Nick White pounced and raced away to score. O'Brien converted: 26-24 Bears, who then did well to halt the Bulldogs' offensive.

Bears back-rower Jake Vost said it was "a real good" game of football. "We always expected them [Gunnedaj to come out hard ... It's good to get the win," he added.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: