The North Queensland Cowboys have taken their first victory of the season with a 26-6 victory over a very poor Canberra Raiders side.
Luck was on the side of the Cowboys for their first try when Murray Tualagi was able to score in the corner after the Cowboys winger just got the ball down just micro-seconds before his foot actually touched the ground. It was a nervous wait though because the Bunker did get involved but stayed with the decision.
The Cowboys extended their lead a few minutes later when Valentine Holmes added the first of his two penalty goals. The second one came a few minutes later when Grant Atkins pulled out a rarely seen penalty after Adam Elliott was deemed a "sleeper" that interfered in the play and the Cowboys lead 8-0.
The half-hour mark brought a rare bright spark when Corey Harawira-Naera was able to take advantage of the lack of enthusiasm in the Cowboys defence as he was able to fight his way to the line. The Raiders second-rower converted his own try and brought the Green Machine back within two.
Neither side could really find any rhythm early on and the Raiders didn't take a chance to level the scores with a penalty goal which would come back to bite them as the Cowboys were able to take their chance a matter of minutes later. The strength of Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow was on show when he outleapt his Raiders opponents for a Chad Townsend kick and fought his way to the line to get the ball down.
The errors continued to mount for the Raiders and eventually, they found themselves a man down, when Hudson Young had to go to the sin bin after referee Grant Atkins ruled that Young had taken out a Raiders kick chaser. The Cowboys took advantage of the extra man running in two tries although it could've started with a third try when an offside Helium Luki got across but had his efforts disallowed for being offside.
Towards the end of the sin bin time, was where the Cowboys took advantage and it was luck for the Cowboys when a poor last tackle pass bounced nicely for Peta Hiku who was able to get his boot to the ball, splitting two Raiders defenders and Kyle Feldt had a free passage to the ball to score.
The final try for the Cowboys came right on the end of the 10 minute sin bin period when Jeremiah Nanai was able to force his way over the line after flying high for a good kick and getting down.
The victory for the Cowboys gives them some confidence after last week before their clash next week with the Broncos, whilst the Raiders hit the drawing board when they have to take on the Titans at home.