- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The North Queensland Cowboys were extremely dominant in their massive win over the South Sydney Rabbitohs 44-18 in Townsville.
The home side streaked ahead early on with Jake Granville helping Gavin Cooper to a try after just five minutes before Chris Grevsmuhl barged over just four minutes later.
The Cowboys soon came racing out of the blocks with Johnathan Thurston scoring before Justin O’Neill went over ten minutes later while Thurston converted to earn his 1001st point at 1300Smiles Stadium.
The Rabbitohs were gifted a massive opportunity in the last five minutes of the first half but their poor handling cost them any chance of scoring as they went into the break down 18-6.
North Queensland asserted their dominance in the second half with South Sydney unable to get a shoe-in as Kyle Feldt crossed before Ethan Lowe and Antonio Winterstein did the same while Justin O’Neill got his second.
Sam Burgess got a late consolation try in the 69th minute with Michael Morgan crossing for the Cowboys just moments later.
Souths had one last try in them as Adam Reynolds intercepted a pass from Jason Taumalolo with his little legs carrying him all the way to the tryline.
The Rabbitohs were hammered in the end as they struggled against the hot North Queensland Cowboys.
Adam Reynolds was Souths’ best in a hapless side while Johnathan Thurston starred for the Cowboys with Michael Morgan, Gavin Cooper, Jake Granville, Lachlan Coote, James Tamou and Matthew Scott also putting in some brilliant displays.
The Bunnies have another tough match-up next week when they take on the ladder-leading Broncos in Brisbane while the Cowboys will host Parramatta.
Final score:
North Queensland Cowboys 44
South Sydney Rabbitohs 18
Can Adam Reynolds help lift the South Sydney Rabbitohs out of a form slump when he returns against the North Queensland Cowboys? Join The Roar from 7:50pm (AEST) for live coverage.
Reynolds will be a welcome addition back into the Souths camp, having spent the past six weeks on the sidelines after a knee injury saw him come from the field before half-time in the Rabbitohs’ Round 1 thrashing of the Roosters.
The State of Origin hopeful has pushed Cody Walker out of the side, with the Easts Tigers product having produced some brilliant football over the opening weeks of the competition.
Convincing wins over Easts and the Newcastle Knights saw the Bunnies launch to the top of the table, having posted an incredible 90 points in two weeks, before they came crashing back to Earth with losses to the Dragons and Bulldogs, as well as a poor performance against the struggling Sea Eagles.
The Cowboys are one of the form teams of the competition, along with fellow 2015 grand finalists and Queensland counterparts the Brisbane Broncos.
There are plenty of representative jerseys on the line for the reigning premiers, with Matthew Scott, James Tamou and Johnathan Thurston all preparing for the Kangaroos Test against New Zealand, while Jason Taumalolo will be hoping to earn a Kiwi jumper. Meanwhile, Antonio Winterstein and John Asiata will both be vying for spots in the Samoan side ahead of their Pacific Test against Tonga.
After some brilliant form early in the season, Lachlan Coote will has a chance to prove his credentials for the Blues’ No.1 jersey in the upcoming State of Origin series going up against incumbent Australia and Queensland fullback Greg Inglis.
Ethan Lowe and Gavin Cooper will be hoping to warrant selection for Queensland, while Ben Hannant needs to play some impressive football to stop the pair from taking his spot in the State of Origin squad.
North Queensland come into the match as hot favourites with this fixture theirs to lose.
The two clubs have met on 26 occasions, with the Cowboys winning half of those match. The Rabbitohs have earnt 12 wins, with one draw.
North Queensland and Souths met twice in 2015, the Cowboys getting a 30-12 win in Round 6, before the Bunnies pipped them in Townsville 31-18 in Round 23.
Prediction
The Cardinal and Myrtle will find it very hard to get past North Queensland.
Cowboys by 18.
Join The Roar from 7:50pm (AEST) for score updates and debate in our live blog.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.