Dominant second half pilots Cowboys to victory

v BYE

The North Queensland Cowboys have put on a second half onslaught to record a dominant 36-0 victory over the St George Illawarra Dragons in front of a 17444 strong crowd at 1300Smiles Stadium tonight.

Both teams struggled to find their groove in attack in the opening exchanges. This along with some quality goal line defence from both teams left the game in a bit of a stalemate for most of the first half.

The scoring finally opened with a controversial try to Cowboys back-rower Gavin Cooper in the 26th minute. After burrowing over from dummy half, the decision was sent down to the bunker who ruled Cooper had got the ball down despite the live replays not showing it clearly. Captain Johnathan Thurston curled his kick inside the right upright to give his team a 6-0 lead.

It looked like this would be the halftime scoreline until Thurston showed the vision of a champion when he sent a grubber behind the line for winger Kyle Feldt to receive a dream bounce and plant it down in the corner. The skipper again added the extras to send his side two converted tries clear heading into the sheds.

The home side looked a more well oiled machine in the second half and in the 51st minute a simple try for interchange forward Scott Bolton from close range gave his team a comfortable 18-0 lead.

Moments later fullback Lachlan Coote kicked a 40/20 and backed it by laying on a try for debutante Javid Bowen in the 56th minute. After hitting an inside ball from Cooper, Coote managed to get his arms free and offload to the nephew of club legend Matt Bowen to score a famous try. From out wide Thurston nailed the conversion for a 24-0 lead and the floodgates were well and truly open.

On the back of a dropped bomb from Dragon's winger Jason Nightingale, the Cowboys extended the lead to 30 when Feldt found himself in open spaces to nab a double in the 69th minute,

From the ensuing set of six, centre Justin O'Neill was the next to cash in after leaping high to snare Thurston's cross field kick and plant it down. Thurston's conversion gave him a perfect night with the boot to go with another classy attacking display.

Next week the Cowboys will head to the foot of the mountains to battle the Penrith Panthers at Pepper Stadium on Saturday night, whilst the Dragons continue their three week run of away games in the sunshine state with a Thursday night showdown against the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium.