Cowboys win in the wet

The North Queensland Cowboys have consolidated their position in the top four with a solid 24-10 victory over the Gold Coast Titans at a rain-soaked Carrara Stadium to finish Round 8 of the Telstra Premiership.

The Titans started strongly but had their confidence dented by a try to the ever-present Matt Bowen in the 6th minute. Mat Rogers, in his best game so far for the Titans, crossed from a scrum win shortly afterwards but two penalty goals to Johnathan Thurston had opened up a 10-4 lead to the visiting team.

Thurston was on hand again as he weaved his way through the Titans defence late in the first half to set up a try for Rod Jensen. The Titans had one further chance just before the break (once again set up by Rogers), but has to settle for a 16-4 halftime deficit despite only being outscored by two tries to one.

The second half started with an avalanche of handling errors as the rain imposed it