On an emotional night paying tribute to the late Paul Green, the North Queensland Cowboys have thumped the New Zealand Warriors in convincing fashion downing the Aucklanders by a club-record 44 points in Townsville.
It was a sombre mood at Queensland Country Bank Stadium as both sides mourned the passing of the Cowboys premiership-winning coach Paul Green. The crowd stood and applauded at the fifteenth minute to celebrate his contribution to the Cowboys football club.
The home side was keen to put last week's Sydney horror show behind them and they got off to a fast start. After some good defence and a questionable short dropout from Shaun Johnson, Reece Robson delivered a wonderful pass to Coen Hess who bounced over the top of Reece Walsh to cross for the first try of the evening. Off some more poor discipline, it was a lovely shift to the left which saw the spine ignites before Valentine Holmes provided the short tip on to Murray Taulagi who crash over the top of poor Walsh to extend the margin to 10.
After holding the Warriors out, a scrum infringement allowed Holmes to pot over a gift of two points to give the home side a two-converted try lead. The Warriors were thanking their lucky stars the margin wasn't greater after the video ref ruled a bat-on from Kyle Feldt forward. Off the proceeding sets, it was a great kick from Daejarn Asi which was batted back by Edward Kosi. From there, it was spilt by Scott Drinkwater and Marcelo Montoya was jolly on the spot to cross for the visitors, despite a lengthy referral, it was eventually given to the Warriors centre.
North Queensland then blew the Warriors out of the water with an electrifying final five minutes which saw them bag two quick tries. The first came off a terrific short pass from Townsend which saw Jeremiah Nanai crash over for try number 17 for the season. Off the next set, a thrilling set play to the left saw Townsend get it onto Dearden who found Drinkwater who got a lovely flick onto Holmes who in turn found Dearden who picked and chose Hiku to cross for the home side and give his side a 20 point half-time advantage.
Off the start to the second 40, it was another Warriors mistake (Walsh spilt a bomb) that gave the Cowboys attacking footy. From there, Dearden caught the defence napping as he slipped through some poor defence to put the Cowboys up by 26. It was turning into an embarrassment when Luciano Leilua charged over the top of Shaun Johnson to add another six points to their tally.
Although the Warriors were hanging in there, it wasn't long before more points were being added to the Cowboys' tally. From the ensuing sets, Townsend kicked for himself to secure a 44-point lead. Although, it should've been more with Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow bombing two tries which should've been scored. But, in the final analysis, the Cowboys have their biggest victory in club history over the Warriors with a 48-4 verdict.