Full Time
80:00
4:05pm Sun June 4, 2023
Round 14 - Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville / Wulgurukaba - Crowd: 18867
78min

Full-time here in Townsville and the Cowboys walk away with a dominant victory. We hope you enjoyed the match and our coverage, stay with us as we'll bring you all the action between the Penrith Panthers and the St. George Illawarra Dragons

76min

Field Goal: Cowboys
Kicked by Chad Townsend.

Townsend puts the cherry on top with a field goal

Cowboys lead Cowboys 45 - 20 Storm
75min

Munster saves a try with his boot. The Cowboys are absolutely charging at the moment

74min

Penalty to the Cowboys, the Storms' night just continues to get worse

73min

Conversion: Cowboys
Kicked by Valentine Holmes.

Holmes has his sixth conversion of the night

Cowboys lead Cowboys 44 - 20 Storm
73min

Try: Cowboys
Scored by Chad Townsend. Kick to come.

The Cowboys have another! Townsend is the beneficiary this time after a great kick Hiku who grubbered it inside after making a break down the left edge

Cowboys lead Cowboys 42 - 20 Storm
71min

Cowboys hold out the Storm once again, it seems like it's too late for a Storm comeback

69min

The Storm go oh so close to scoring but the Cowboys scramble to hold them out

67min

Penalty to the Storm, Hess hits Coates with a shot around the chin

66min

Short kick-off from the Storm is unsuccessful

65min

Conversion: Cowboys
Kicked by Valentine Holmes.

Holmes extends the lead to 18

Cowboys lead Cowboys 38 - 20 Storm
64min

Try: Cowboys
Scored by Jeremiah Nanai. Kick to come.

Shut the gate!! the Cowboys are turning it on here in Townsville. The Storm defence has absolutely collapsed as Nanai runs off the shoulder of Drinkwater and his fullback puts him through a hole to extend the lead to three tries

Cowboys lead Cowboys 36 - 20 Storm
64min

Successful captains challenge as Munster has been deemed to strip the ball out of Griffin Neame's reach, time running out for the Storm

62min

Conversion: Cowboys
Kicked by Valentine Holmes.

Holmes extends the lead

Cowboys lead Cowboys 32 - 20 Storm
60min

Try: Cowboys
Scored by Murray Taulagi. Kick to come.

Taulagi has his second of the afternoon and it's all thanks to Holmes. The Queensland centre burst through the Melbourne defensive line with speed and drew Meaney, giving Taulagi a free ride for a four-pointer

Cowboys lead Cowboys 30 - 20 Storm
58min

Conversion: Storm
Kicked by Nick Meaney.

Converts his own try and the deficit is back to six points

Cowboys lead Cowboys 26 - 20 Storm
57min

Try: Storm
Scored by Nick Meaney. Kick to come.

WOW! Try of the afternoon. Nick Meaney with an excellent piece of work. Drinkwater was spotted in the line and Meaney executes the chip and chase to perfection, the Storm are back in this

Cowboys lead Cowboys 26 - 18 Storm
53min

Conversion: Cowboys
Kicked by Valentine Holmes.

Holmes extends the home sides lead to 12 points. Can the Storm overturn the deficit like they did in the first half? Or will the Cowboys push on with it?

Cowboys lead Cowboys 26 - 14 Storm
53min

Try: Cowboys
Scored by Murray Taulagi. Kick to come.

The Queenslander extends the Cowboys lead. On the back of another error from the Storm and the Cowboys continue to attack the edge. Holmes does well and drops Taulagi under him who proves too hard to stop

Cowboys lead Cowboys 24 - 14 Storm
52min

Another error from Melbourne, Bellamy will be irate with his team

51min

The Cowboys look dangerous when the get on the roll as they target Melbourne's edges, this time an attacking kick from Drinkwater had too much juice on it as it trickled over the sideline

50min

Katoa goes close to levelling it for the Storm, but fails to get two hands on the football

48min

Penalty to the Storm, more sloppiness from the Cowboys. Granville going out of his way to take out Aaron Pene as he tried to pressure the kicker

47min

NAS' second error of the night, it's been a very sloppy game

46min

A poor play the ball from Leilua once again releases the pressure that they've done so well to build at stages in this match. The Strom get another chance to level the scores

45min

Conversion: Cowboys
Kicked by Valentine Holmes.

Holmes converts from the sideline

Cowboys lead Cowboys 20 - 14 Storm
43min

Try: Cowboys
Scored by Semi Valemei. Kick to come.

Valemei has a hat-trick in his first game for the Cowboys. The Cowboys again came down this right edge where they've had success early today. Coates nearly intercepted a Townsend pass but his touch put the ball in Hiku's hands who drew Meaney and passed it to his winger

Cowboys lead Cowboys 18 - 14 Storm
40min

The Storm get us underway for the second half, big half of footy coming up

40min

Penalty Goal: Storm
Kicked by Nick Meaney.

Meaney levels the score before the break

Tied up at Cowboys 14 - 14 Storm
40min

Half Time here in Townsville with the scores locked. The Storm will be the happier of the two teams as they've had limited opportunity throughout the half. They've been sloppy but have made the most of their opportunities, whereas, the Cowboys have looked the better side for big parts of the game but their defence has let themselves down

39min

Granville leaves the field for a HIA

39min

An error by Reimis Smith has been successfully challenged by the Storm as he was pushed in the process of playing the ball. The Storm will take the shot at goal in an attempt to level the scores

37min

Forward pass from the centre, the Cowboys left edge again looking dangerous, but the forward pass halts all momentum

35min

Olam leaves the field for a HIA after a head clash in his try scoring effort just minutes ago

35min

Conversion: Storm
Kicked by Nick Meaney.

Meaney makes no error from the sideline with the scores now separated by just two points

Cowboys lead Cowboys 14 - 12 Storm
34min

Try: Storm
Scored by Justin Olam. Kick to come.

Olam crosses for the Storm. Given how they half has turned out, Melbourne will be disappointed with their general play but will be glad to be close to the home side on the scoreboard. Cowboys on the other hand will be frustrated to not be leading by more

Cowboys lead Cowboys 14 - 10 Storm
32min

Penalty to the Storm, can they strike again before the half?

31min

Conversion: Cowboys
Attempted by Valentine Holmes.

Holmes misses again, uncharacteristically too.

Cowboys lead Cowboys 14 - 6 Storm
30min

Try: Cowboys
Scored by Valentine Holmes. Kick to come.

And they make the most of it. Melbourne's defence looks fragile on their own line and it's some great work from the Cowboys to dissect it. Dearden and Drinkwater linked up well and attracted defenders creating a big overlap for Holmes to run through untouched

Cowboys lead Cowboys 14 - 6 Storm
29min

NAS has put it down just 20 out from his own try line, the Cowboys have the chance here to push the lead out to double digits

28min

Olam has absolutely flattened Nanai, welcome to the field

24min

The Cowboys will be disappointed that they only lead by four points after such a dominant start to the game

24min

Conversion: Storm
Kicked by Nick Meaney.

Meaney slots it to bring the deficit to four points

Cowboys lead Cowboys 10 - 6 Storm
22min

Try: Storm
Scored by Xavier Coates. Kick to come.

There we go! The Storm are on the board. It was a little to easy for Coates who got the ball early in the play and cut in of his left boot and burst through Hiku and Valemei essentially untouched. Poor defence and they'll be flat to let the Storm in that easily after such a great start

Cowboys lead Cowboys 10 - 4 Storm
21min

Holmes loses it in the tackle just 20-30 metres out from his own line. This may be the opportunity that the Storm need

20min

An absolute shocker of a kick from Munster. His kicked aimed for just short of the try line flies over the dead ball line on the full. The Storm can't get anything to click

19min

Good contest from Taulagi but fails to hold onto the ball, another good set of six from the Cowboys. Storm need to respond with something

18min

Knock-on from Olam, the Cowboys defence rushed them and the pass from Munster failed to find Olam's chest

16min

Forward pass from Leilua just as the Cowboys were looking dangerous on that left edge

14min

Storm are looking very rusty, passes aren't hitting their mark and just ill-disciplined all round

12min

And just like tat the Storm put the ball down, and another penalty is headed the Cowboys way. A poor 20 seconds for the Storm

12min

Penalty to the Storm, Granville has interfered with play a he was running back to get onside. Storm with an excellent opportunity to return serve

10min

Conversion: Cowboys
Attempted by Valentine Holmes.

Holmes can't repeat his efforts of his first kick with this one crashing into the post.

Cowboys lead Cowboys 10 - 0 Storm
8min

Try: Cowboys
Scored by Semi Valemei. Kick to come.

Valemei has a double! No one gets the the kick and the bounce favours the home side. It falls with Luki who passes it over Coates to Valemei who barged his way over

Cowboys lead Cowboys 10 - 0 Storm
7min

Penalty to the Cowboys, it keep getting better for the home side

6min

Conversion: Cowboys
Kicked by Valentine Holmes.

Holmes has absolutely nailed the kick from the sideline. Perfect start for the Cowboys

Cowboys lead Cowboys 6 - 0 Storm
5min

Try: Cowboys
Scored by Semi Valemei. Kick to come.

Valemei scores in his club debut! The Cowboys earned another six tackles after a failed attempt to diffuse the bomb by the Storm. Overlap to the right and the Cowboys make no mistake

Cowboys lead Cowboys 4 - 0 Storm
3min

A wild last play from the Cowboys has resulted in a repeat set courtesy of a Jake Granville grubber

2min

Solid start to this outing, both sides look up for it

Welcome to Townsville for the clash between the Cowboys and the Storm, hope you enjoy the footy

Referees & scorers:

Referee: Peter Gough

Touch Judges: Belinda Sharpe, Michael Wise

Video Referee: Adam Gee

NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS (45)
Tries: Semi Valemei (3), Valentine Holmes, Murray Taulagi (2), Jeremiah Nanai, Chad Townsend
Field Goals: Chad Townsend (1/1)
Conversions: Valentine Holmes (6/8)

MELBOURNE STORM (20)
Tries: Xavier Coates, Nick Meaney, Justin Olam
Conversions: Nick Meaney (3/3)
Penalty Goals: Nick Meaney (1/1)