The North Queensland Cowboys have put on a show in Cairns with a 20-point win over the Rabbitohs.
The first half started well for the Cowboys with Kyle Feldt managing to force a dropout from the kickoff.
» Re-live all the action with our live blog
It put North Queensland in good attacking position with an early penalty going their way and resulted in Johnathan Thurston putting them on the board.
Ten minutes later, Thurston continued his strong game by finding the line from dummy half and carrying the Burgess brothers with him.
It put the Cowboys in front by eight, however, the lead was soon extended as Matthew Scott found his way over in the 18th minute.
Souths were never really given an opportunity to attack the Cowboys’ line but when they were they struggled to hold onto the ball which resulted in them going into the first half down by 14 points.
North Queensland continued their domination in the second half with an early try to Javid Bowen before the Bunnies went on the attack with two botched tries in as many minutes.
A Scott Bolton effort stopped Greg Inglis from scoring before Joe Burgess was forced in touch.
The visitors extended their lead later on with a penalty goal after Thurston was taken out of the chase having almost created another try-scoring play.
The Rabbitohs were unable to score in the end as they received their fifth loss in a row, the first time that has happened to the club since 2009.
The three JTs led the way for the Cowboys with Johnathan Thurston, Jason Taumalolo and James Tamou all producing gut-busting efforts.
Matthew Scott, Antonio Winterstein and Lachlan Coote also featured prominently for North Queensland while Nathan Brown and Sam Burgess were Souths’ best.
The Cowboys now head to the nation’s capital where they will take on the Raiders next Monday while Souths will be given the opportunity to rest up with a bye.
Final score
South Sydney Rabbitohs 0
North Queensland Cowboys 20
Stats
Possession: 41% – 59%
Completions: 23/35 (66%) – 36/45 (80%)
All Runs: 151 – 211
All Run Metres: 1258 – 2050
Line Breaks: 4 – 5
Offloads: 12 – 9
Tackles: 423 – 289
Missed Tackles: 29 – 30
Penalties: 6 – 11
Errors: 13 – 9
The Roar’s NRL MVP votes
3 – Johnathan Thurston
2 – Jason Taumalolo
1 – James Tamou
You can find Riley on Twitter @rileypettigrew
andrew
Guest
Agree. When Sutton couldn't even run through a banner, that should have been a sign that he and the rest of them weren't going to be able to break through a defensive line. Seriously one Souths player ran for more than 100m while 10 Cowboys managed the same feet.
PNG Broncos fan88
Roar Guru
Tired and uninspired Rabbitohs again on FTA, so boring. At least Manly and Newcastle are having a go.
Griffo
Guest
I agree about Souths, steveng, however I think you're underplaying Thurston's involvement in this game. His kicking was superb, he was putting steps on, he scored a try himself. He controlled the game well.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Not so much Thurston, Souths were terrible and nothing went their way at the start of that game, but later they were just their own self destructive self's. Souths seem like their players are going through the motions and whatever they do just doesn't work, no penetration, no attack and once their mistake rate increases they are terrible and not worth watching. Souths need a complete 'clean out' just like the NSW Blues do.
joel
Guest
what an awesome game from Thurston, wow