Round 2
North Queensland Cowboys 10 l. Wests Tigers 30

2008 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Aus_NZ > National > First Grade Competition: NRL Telstra Premiership

Wests Tigers record gutsy victory
Sun March 23, 2008
Last night's 30-10 victory by the Wests Tigers over the Johnathan Thurston led Cowboys has been rated by coach Tim Sheens and several of their players as one of their finest.

Defence hasn't been a common trait for the Tigers - even in the year they won the 2005 title, but last night was forced to dig deep early on in defence and dig even deeper in the second being a man down for ten minutes as well as having captain Brett Hodgson taken out of play.

North Queensland had all the momentum early on in the match and Thurston turned down many easy two point opportunities to go for the try. It took 19 minutes of relentless pressure for the Wests defence to crack and Ashley Graham crossed over near touch. Thurston missed a rare conversion attempt for the Cowboys to lead 4-0.

Robbie Farah got the Tigers back into the match when he crashed over from dummy half right under the goal posts. Hodgson landed an easy two points to put the visitors up 6-4 in a surprising scoreline.

Hodgson moments later landed a penalty goal to extend Wests lead to four points and that increased further in the next set of six. A break by five-eighth Tim Moltzen saw the ball passed inside to Hodgson only to see the ball knocked down by Graham and fumbled again by Graham with Bronson Harrison on the spot to dive on the loose ball. Replays showed that Graham was the only player who made contact with the ball when it was scrambling around the field of play. Hodgson converted for the Tigers to lead 14-4, which they took into the half-time break.

North Queensland had to be first to score in the second half and it was Bradford recruit Ben Harris that provided them with the inspiration. Harris produced a big tackle to jolt the ball loose in the tackle to force a scrum in an attacking position and from the scrum he powered through the defence to score under the posts. Thurston added the extras for the Cowboys to get back within four points.

The match turned sour in the 50th minute when Cowboys lock Luke O'Donnell saw his opportunity to get one square on Wests Liam Fulton following an incident last year that left O'Donnell out for the season with a leg injury. O'Donnell took a swing at Fulton when in possession and a brawl broke out. Harrison was sent to the sin bin for being 3rd man into the fight, but Thurston who was 4th man into the fight and O'Donnell both escaped being sent to the bin. Ironically the Tigers were punished a player, but received a penalty.

Worse was to follow four minutes later with Hodgson taken out by Graham with what appeared to be an elbow. Graham was given the benefit of the doubt as Hodgson was falling into the tackle, but Graham still had his elbow cocked and there appeared to be intent in the tackle. Referee Tony De Las Heras probably didn't feel it was a send off offence, but the law makers in our game need to allow the sin bin to be used for any offences such as this or all offences where they deem a side deserves to be punished for more than just a token player being put on report.

Hodgson tried to bravely stay on the field, but didn't take the penalty goal attempt with Chris Lawrence taking it instead and pushed the Tigers lead out to eight points.

Lawrence scored in the 65th minute to extend Wests lead out to ten points when he was on the end of a well set play. He was unable to convert his own try.

Victory was sealed for the visitors when Moltzen scored a fine individual try to show not only that they can play without Benji Marshall, but they have a ready made pivot for the many weeks that Marshall is always going to miss through injury. Lawrence added the extras to push the Tigers clear at 26-10.

Fulton had the last say on the match when Farah worked down the short side to put Peni Tagive in the clear and he passed inside to Fulton who dummied past Matt Bowen who simply grabbed at mid-air not attempting to make the tackle on the Tigers lock forward. Lawrence was unable to convert with Wests coming out surprising, but commanding 30-10 victors.

After the match, Wests Tigers coach Tim Sheens said, "That is one of our better wins and it's certainly been a good start to the season for us.

"We had a couple of busted key players in the side with Benji (Marshall) and now Brett Hodgson.

"The fill-in players, and by that I'm not being derogatory towards them - have done a great job."

Impressive Wests hooker Robbie Farah said, "The way we defended was unbelievable. We have copped a bit of flak for our defence of late but that was our best win in a long time.

"To lose Hodgo in the second half and with things not going our way, the boys showed great character.''

Wests Tigers club doctor Donald Kuah will monitor the progress of Hodgson over the next few days after he suffered concussion following the Graham incident. He was monitored through the night by Dr Kuah.

Sheens said, "He's got no memory of the game, he's a tough kid. He doesn't like going off but he will probably need a week off."

North Queensland coach Graham Murray will come under increasing fire after the poor start to the season and it will be a surprise if he lasts out the season. Murray has already been given his marching orders for 2009 and there's been rumours of a fallout between Murray and Thurston that just don't go away.

Murray after the match said, "We started off pretty good but we weren't as sharp as I'd like us to be.

"I think we completed two out of our last nine sets. We have a lot of work to do."

Meanwhile, Wests Tigers made it a great night up north by defeating the Cowboys 40-12 in Toyota NYC action.


Trimarchi back in Tigers team for Cowboys game
Tue March 18, 2008
Source: www.weststigers.com.au

Wests Tigers Coach Tim Sheens has named exciting young talent Tim Moltzen at five-eighth against the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville on Saturday, March 22, in round two of the Telstra Premiership.

Moltzen made an impressive first grade debut in the opening round win over St George-Illawarra Dragons last Sunday after replacing injured five-eighth Benji Marshall in the third minute.

Rocky Trimarchi, who scored a try in his first grade debut against Cronulla in round six of the 2006 season, comes onto the interchange bench for Moltzen. It will be Trimarchi's second game in first grade.

Beau Ryan has been named on one wing to replace Taniela Tuiaki, who is out with a hamstring injury.

Todd Payten has been named at prop, subject to the judiciary hearing on Wednesday night.

Wests Tigers team:
1 Brett Hodgson (c)
2 Beau Ryan
3 Dene Halatau
4 Chris Lawrence
5 Peni Tagive
6 Tim Moltzen
7 John Morris
8 Todd Payten (subject to judiciary)
9 Robbie Farah
10 Keith Galloway
11 Ben Te'o
12 Chris Heighington
13 Liam Fulton

14 Rocky Trimarchi
15 Danny Galea
16 Corey Payne
17 Bronson Harrison

Casualty Ward
Taniela Tuiaki - hamstring (Rd 3)
Shannon McDonnell - hamstring (Rd 3)
Bryce Gibbs - ankle (Rd 5)
Dean Collis - hamstring (Rd 6)
Ryan O'Hara - broken jaw (Rd 7)
Benji Marshall - knee (Rd 11)

News source: www.weststigers.com.au

Tue March 18, 2008
• Cowboys NRL and NYC Round 2 teams
  

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