Granville hands Souths a hard-fought victory

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North Queensland Cowboys v South Sydney Rabbitohs

The Cowboys scratched and clawed their way to a 1 point lead late in the game, before Souths kicked a penalty goal after the siren to win 20-19 at Townsville's 1300SMILES Stadium.

Souths started the game brilliantly with George Burgess diving over for a good try off the back of a nice short ball from Cook close to the Cowboys line. Reynolds converted to give Souths a 6-0 lead after 5 minutes.

Just a few minutes later though Cody Walker was binned for dissent. This did little to harm the Bunnies, who capitalised on the woeful discipline of the Cowboys while a man down. A Hess knock on followed by back to back penalties against the Cowboys saw Reynolds kick a penalty goal before another pair of back-to-back penalties allowed him to nail another to give his side a 10 point lead as Walker returned to the field.

The Cowboys finally got on the board thanks to a brilliant and fast catch and pass by Morgan to put Winterstein over in the corner. Thurston converted from touch.

North Queensland then gave away another penalty on their own line after Scott prevented Reynolds from chasing his own kick. Reynolds added another 2 points.

Momentum and luck started to swing at the back end of the half and the Cowboys started to dominate possession, but they could only managed a penalty goal just before halftime.

Thurston was the first to add to the scoreboard in the second half when he kicked a penalty goal, however Souths hit back with yet another brilliant solo effort from red hot rake Cook, who scooted out of dummy half to dive over near the posts untouched. Reynolds converted. With 20 minutes remaining Thurston kicked another penalty goal to get his side back within 6 points.

On the 70th minute, the Cowboys again return to their right side attack when Thurston linked with Morgan. Morgan broke through a tackle and then passed to Winterstein who dived over for his second try. Thurston added a stunning sideline conversion to level the scores.

In the 75th minute, Morgan shaped for a long pass to his left, stepped back in field and calmly potted a field goal from 15m out to give his side a 19-18 lead.

With a minute left, Granville grubbered into the Souths in-goal and George Burgess was trapped, forcing a drop out. Souths went short, Feldt caught the ball and then dropped it. Walker scooped it up and ran to halfway. Souths then stormed inside the Cowboys 30 on the next play. With 18 seconds left, Reynolds was set for a shot at field goal, but was denied by Granville, who charged up off the line early and was duly penalised.

The siren sounded and Reynolds calmly potted the penalty goal from right in front to give Souths the victory.