Cowboys 46 Defeat Rabbitohs 12
06 Jun 2009
The North Queensland Cowboys have defeated the South Sydney Rabbitohs 46 points to 12 at Dairy Farmers Stadium tonight (Saturday).
The Cowboys ran the game in both attack and defence, having a lion’s share of the ball throughout the match.
The Cowboys dominated the first 40 minutes of the match, scoring four tries to one and securing 65% of the ball.
Tries to John Williams in the sixth minute, Ashley Graham in the 12th minute and Aaron Payne in the 19th minute gave the home side a 16-nil advantage after 20 minutes.
The Rabbitohs scored their first points in the 25th minute of play when centre Beau Champion crashed over on the right hand side of the field. An incisive run from Craig Wing and a quick play-the-ball gave Champion space to exploit the defence and score the try. Chris Sandow kicked the conversion to reduce the deficit to 10 points.
The Cowboys scored the final points of the half in the 34th minute when second rower Scott Bolton scored from short range to extend the lead to 22-6 at the break.
The Cowboys had so much ball in the first half, playing 23 sets of six compared to 13 for the Rabbitohs. The big Cowboys forwards were making metres up the middle with Shane Tronc, Matt Scott and Luke O’Donnell making the yardage. Johnathan Thurston carried on his form from Wednesday night’s State of Origin match, orchestrating everything the North Queenslanders were doing. For the Rabbitohs the forwards were working hard but not getting opportunities to make in roads.
The Cowboys came out on fire in the second half, scoring tries through Ashley Graham in the 48th minute, Matt Bowen in the 55th minute and Ty Williams in the 59th minute to extend their lead to 36-6 with 20 minutes left on the clock.
John Williams scored his second try of the night in the 71st minute, again scoring in the right hand corner and extending the lead to 34 points. Matt Scott put the final nail in the coffin when he crashed over in the 76th minute to extend the Cowboys lead to 46-6 with a couple of minutes to play.
Craig Wing scored a consolation try for the red greens in the final minute of play, when he stepped past a number of defenders to score on the left hand side of the field. Sandow slotted the extras to finish the scoring at Cowboys 46 – Rabbitohs 12.
The Cowboys had twice as much ball as the Rabbitohs throughout the match and the Rabbitohs made an extra 130 tackles over the 80 minutes. The Cowboys dominated the game at home in Townsville, with the Rabbitohs now having a week to regroup before taking on the Melbourne Storm at Perth’s Member Equity Stadium on Saturday 13 June at 7:30pm WST (9:30pm Sydney time).
North Queensland Cowboys 46 (Ashley Graham 2, John Williams 2, Aaron Payne, Scott Bolton, Matt Bowen, Ty Williams, Matt Scott tries; Johnathan Thurston 5 goals)
defeated
South Sydney Rabbitohs 12 (Beau Champion, Craig Wing tries; Chris Sandow 2 goals)
In the Toyota Cup match, the South Sydney Rabbitohs came back from an 18-4 deficit to win 24-22 over the North Queensland Cowboys at Dairy Farmers Stadium.
Doubles to Junior Vaivai and Kane Morgan sparked the Rabbitohs second half revival.
South Sydney Rabbitohs 24 (Junior Vaivai 2, Kane Morgan 2, Dylan Farrell tries; Adam Reynolds 2 goal)
defeated
North Queensland Cowboys 22 (Michael Morgan, Dylan Smith, Steven Eliott, Michael Parker Walshe tries; Troyden Watene 3 goals)
In the NSW Cup, the North Sydney Bears hammered the Newtown Jets 46 points to 6 at Henson Park on Saturday afternoon.
Bladen Baird scored a hat trick for the Bears with front rower Jaiman Lowe out-playing the Jets’ pack all afternoon.
The Bears led 30-nil at the half time break in the back of a dominant performance from the forwards, and kicked on to win the game by a 40-point margin.
North Sydney Bears 46 (Bladen Baird 3, Jaiman Lowe, Daniel Sayegh, Reece Robinson, Beau Falloon, Justin Hunt tries; Justin Hunt 7 goals)
defeated
Newtown Jets 6