Another Cowboys – Broncos thriller, after victories for Titans, Knights

The Cowboys have beaten the Broncos in a thriller in Townsville, after the Knights got past the Raiders in Wagga Wagga and the Titans beat Wests Tigers.

A late Valentine Holmes field goal gave North Queensland a 19-18 win over Brisbane. earlier, the Knights defeated Canberra 24-16, and the Titans held on to beat Wests Tigers 36-28.

Led by a heroic captain’s knock from Jason Taumalolo, the Cowboys came back from a 12-8 half-time deficit to snatch victory in the final 10 minutes of the contest.

Todd Payten’s men are quickly becoming the comeback kings of the NRL, starting slow and finishing hard as they gave up 22 missed tackles in the first half, 44 in total.

Second-half tries to Connelly Lemuelu and Taumalolo were the difference as the Broncos buckled before a 22,222 strong Townsville crowd willing the Cowboys to a gutsy victory.

Taumalolo was the standout on the night, logging 223 run metres, scoring a try and providing the offload to set up Holmes’ game-winning field goal.

The skipper, who’s still nursing pain to his injured hand, put the team on his shoulders with barnstorming runs, attracting, three or four defenders at a time.

A rare blight in Taumalolo’s performance came when he knocked on with eight minutes left in the contest near the Broncos line but he made up for it shortly after.

A 40 metre break by half-back Jake Clifford got the home side great field position before Taumalolo crashed over under the posts off Scott Drinkwater’s inside pass.

Holmes added the extras from right in front leaving the scores tied 18-18 with four minutes to play.

The Cowboys went the length of the field off their next set through Clifford’s break before Holmes, who wasn’t first choice for the field goal, slotted a shot from 25 metres out to put the home side ahead.

It had been far from clear sailing for the Cowboys after stuttering their way through the opening stanza.

Although the home side opened the scoring through Kyle Feldt, after he miraculously twisted his arm free from two tacklers to plant down on an angle in the corner, the Broncos quickly hit back through Xavier Coates off a set play.

At 6-6 all after 20 minutes, the match became an arm wrestle, Brisbane unlucky not to be further ahead after having two tries disallowed.

Rhys Kennedy then scored off a Tyson Gamble short pass but the Broncos’ 12-8 half-time lead wouldn’t be enough as the Cowboys lifted late.

Titans hold on for win over Tigers

Gold Coast claimed the battle but hardly won the war as the Titans snapped a three-game losing streak with a scrappy 36-28 win over Wests Tigers.

Reeling after a horror few weeks, the Titans made a statement early in Campbelltown but now face the prospect of losing David Fifita to suspension after fighting off a Tigers comeback.

Leading 36-12 late, David Nofoaluma crossed twice for the Tigers in three minutes to put them back in the match before a dramatic climax.

Aiming for a third to reduce the margin to one try with three minutes to play, Nofoaluma was smashed into touch by Fifita and careered into an exposed wire fence.

The 27-year-old stayed down for more than a minute but was eventually back to his feet, as the bunker denied the four-pointer.

Fifita then ended the match in the sin-bin for a high shot on Adam Doueihi, risking a ban alongside Tyrone Peachey who also pinged for a shoulder charge.

Against 12 men Doueihi crossed to reduce the margin to eight, but the five-eighth missed the kick with four seconds to play to kill off any comeback.

It was the kind of finish that summed up a strange night for both sides, as the Tigers tried for a second time to honour Tommy Raudonikis but got the same result.

At times it resembled a touch football game.

For the second time in three games, the Tigers conceded three tries in three straight sets as they went 18-0 down inside 14 minutes.

Adding to the humiliation, one of those came from the kick-off after a Jarrod Wallace long ball put Alex Brimson into the clear for Tyrone Peachey to go over.

Wallace was in the action again on the next set, when his offload gave Fifita space on the left and allowed Brian Kelly to add to the Tigers’ pain.

But while they were dangerous in attack, the Titans were just as poor in defence.

The Tigers’ first try came when Joey Leilua charged onto a ball off a scrum, hitting a gap with ease and brushing past Beau Fermor.

And Jake Simpkin’s second came when he burrowed under from dummy-half, getting the ball down through three defenders.

After the Tigers trailed 24-12 at half-time, the key moment came when a Luke Brooks grubber with no full-back at home went straight into the body of Jamal Fogarty.

Fogarty scooped the ball up and put Anthony Don 60 metres downfield before Phillip Sami went over on the left wing the next play, albeit off a questionable Brian Kelly pass.

Tanah Boyd also got a deserved try late from a Peachey kick that proved crucial, but even that had an apparent Wallace knock-on in the lead-up.

Knights comeback keeps Raiders at bay

Newcastle Knights have entered the top eight, at least temporarily, with a comeback win over the Canberra Raiders 24-16 in Wagga Wagga. 

Newcastle piled on 24 unanswered points to heap more misery on Canberra, the Knights coming from behind to beat the Raiders in their Wagga Wagga NRL clash.

In a much-needed return to the winner’s circle, the Knights snatched a 24-16 win in the Riverina, in front of 6,642 fans.

Down by 16-0 at half-time, the Knights came out firing and scored four tries while the deflated Raiders once again failed to score in the second half.

The Green Machine have now slumped to five straight losses in the same season, a run unseen by the club since 2014.

Newcastle full-back Kalyn Ponga starred for the Knights with a try and four goals while star hooker Jayden Brailey was the hero of the match, consolidating the result with an impressive try in the 77th minute.

It was the first time in 29 matches where the Knights trailed at half-time and came back to win.

Young Knights half-back Phoenix Crossland scored just after the break and ignited their impressive comeback – while Ponga made a successful conversion taking the score to 16-6.

A 59th minute minute converted try by Ponga put them right back in the contest, second-rower Tyson Frizell’s 67th minute solo effort helping his side get to an 18-16 advantage.

“We simplified (our game); we worked hard on the simple things,” Ponga said following a 38-4 touch-up by the Roosters last week.

“The boys were good today – we were just happy to see some effort compared to last week.”

It was a demoralising loss for the Raiders who had all the momentum and firepower in the first half.

Half-back George Williams starred for the Green Machine while forward Joseph Tapine, who injured his knee in the second half and Josh Papalii were strong early.

Caleb Aekins, Tapine and Bailey Simonsson all had first-half tries but again the Raiders fell apart when it mattered most.

Canberra lock Ryan Sutton was taken off the ground mid-way through the first half after hyper-extending his elbow.

He did not return for the rest of the match.

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