North Queensland Cowboys vs Cronulla Sharks: Cronulla crash Cowboys 42-16

Match result:

The Sharks have pulled off a dominant win away from home against the Cowboys. After being down 10-6 at halftime, they completely obliterated their opposition over a 20 minute period in which they completed at 100 percent and scored five unanswered tries.

Both Shaun Johnson and Chad Townsend had great games. Townsend scored his first career double and came up with a number of try-assists.

Johnson too got in on the assists, forced a number of repeat sets with deft little kicks into the ingoal, and kicked 7/7 from the kicking tee.

The first half was quite a scrappy affair. As we have see quite a bit this season, the game started off at a frantic pace before fatigue took over and errors started to creep into the game.

The 80 per cent humidity didn’t help ball security either as all the moisture in the air and the sweat from the players made the ball very slippery.

The Sharks scored first through Chad Townsend in the 15th minute, who ran off a beautiful Paul Gallen offload in what was a milestone game for the skipper.

Unfortunately, Gal had to go off shortly after with a rib complaint and took no further part in the game.

The Cowboys hit back through Jordan McLean in the 29th minute, and again in the 36th minute through Te Marie Martin who pounced on his own grubber kick after Sosaia Feki knocked it on in the ingoal.

They completed at 79 per cent in the first half, while Cronulla only at 52 per cent. As such the Cowboys took a thoroughly deserved 10-6 lead into halftime.

The second half was a completely different story. The Sharks had fixed their ball-control issues, and Briton Nikora scored in the 42nd minute.

From there, Cronulla went bang, bang, bang and bang, all but wrapping up the game at the hour mark with a 36-10 lead.

What happened in the second half was clearly a shift in attitude from both teams. Cronulla simply wanted it more, while the Cowboys really dropped off after a promising first half.

Serious questions emerged out of this game surrounding the Cowboys’ ability to win without Jason Taumalolo. But to be frank, I’m not sure his inclusion would have led to a Cowboys win on this occasion.

North Queensland looked really clunky in attack all game (even when they were winning). Passes from dummy half went to ground, or didn’t go to the chest of Michael Morgan or Jake Clifford.

Forwards running off the halves didn’t look smooth at all. Paul Green really needs to go back and look at his spine – after making major changes for this game, they looked worse than at any other point this season.

It was also attitude that cost the Cowboys, and it’s hard to believe that the inclusion of one player – even someone the caliber of Jason Taumalolo – could have fixed that either.

The Sharks will be ecstatic with the win. Even though Paul Gallen only played a small part in the match, his side clearly lifted in his honour as he went past club great Andrew Ettingshausen to become the most-capped Shark with 329 games for the club.

For the Cowboys, they have a lot of work to do if they want to avoid a repeat of last season’s capitulation. They have far too good a side on paper to be playing like this – even without Taumalolo.

Final score
North Queensland Cowboys 16
Crounlla Sharks 42

Match preview:

Round 3 will see the Cronulla Sharks make the dreaded trip to up to stinking hot Townsville to face the North Queensland Cowboys. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog, starting from 5:30pm AEDT.

With both sides 1 and 1 to start the season, this shapes up as a very important clash for each of them.

Cowboys’ coach Paul Green has made sweeping changes to the side that lost to Brisbane last week – some forced, some not.

The knee injury suffered by superstar Jason Taumalolo sees the more-than-capable Josh McGuire slot into his familiar number 13 jumper, while Corey Jensen will replace McGuire on the bench.

Green has made a number of unforced changes to the backline, shifting Te Marie Martin from five-eighth to fullback, new recruit Jordan Kahu from fullback to centre while young gun Jake Clifford will get his first start for the year playing at five-eighth.

These changes indicate Green was not satisfied with the ball-playing options he had at his disposal. Kahu – not a renowned ball-player – was brought to the club specifically to play fullback.

Te Marie Martin is certainly a better passer than Kahu, and it’s good to be able to get Jake Clifford into the side. But in terms of positional play, defence, and returning the ball from kicks, Kahu has the wood on Martin.

Green has also dropped experienced centre Justin O’Neill to the extended bench in favour of the versatile Ben Hampton.

For the Sharks it’s business as usual. They go into this match with the same players in key positions as they have all season, and will be looking to build those combinations further in this game.

The rest of their side looks after itself. They are very lucky to have experienced centres Josh Dugan and Josh Morris on board, as well as former and current NSW Origin forwards Andrew Fifita, Matt Prior, Paul Gallen and Aaron Woods in the side. They are missing Wade Graham in the back row through injury – apart from that, the Sharks are at full strength.

Prediction
Townsville early in the season is one of worst places to play at for away teams. As such, it’s very difficult to pick Cronulla to win this one.

It’s also very difficult to pick the Cowboys without Jason Taumalolo. His absence makes the battle of the forward packs far more even than it would be ordinarily, and gives the Sharks a real chance at getting a valuable away win early in the year.

I think Josh McGuire has plenty to prove in this game. He’s the Cowboys’ new big-name signing, and with Taumalolo’s absence and Matt Scott ageing rapidly, he’ll want to stand up and show that he can be the new forward leader.

As a Queenslander and Australian mainstay over the past few seasons, that is certainly what coach Green will be expecting of McGuire. I believe he’ll step up and inspire his team to victory.

Cowboys by 10

Where: 1300Smiles Stadium, Townsville
When: 5:30pm AEDT
TV: Fox League
Streaming: NRL Digital Pass, Kayo Sports

Cowboys
1 Te Maire Martin 2 Nene Macdonald 3 Jordan Kahu 4 Ben Hampton 5 Javid Bowen 6 Jake Clifford 7 Michael Morgan 8 Matt Scott 9 Jake Granville 10 Jordan McLean 11 Gavin Cooper 12 Coen Hess 13 Josh McGuire.

Interchange: 14 John Asiata 15 Corey Jensen 16 Mitchell Dunn 17 Francis Molo.

Reserves: 18 Shane Wright 19 Justin O’Neill 20 Peter Hola 21 Enari Tuala

Sharks
1 Matt Moylan 2 Sosaia Feki 3 Josh Dugan 4 Josh Morris 5 Sione Katoa 6 Shaun Johnson 7 Chad Townsend 8 Andrew Fifita 9 Jayden Brailey 10 Matt Prior 11 Briton Nikora 12 Kurt Capewell 13 Paul Gallen.

Interchange: 14 Blayke Brailey 15 Jayson Bukuya 16 Aaron Woods 17 Jack Williams.

Reserves: 18 Scott Sorensen 19 Kyle Flanagan 20 Bronson Xerri 21 Braden Hamlin-Uele