Round 17
North Queensland Cowboys 24 d. Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 4

2009 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

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

Cowboys left hurting after beating Sharks
Sun July 5, 2009
Source: www.abc.net.au

North Queensland piled on the points in the second half to dump the Sharks 24-4 in Townsville on Saturday night after a rare scoreless first 40 minutes.

Both sides failed to trouble the scorers in a sloppy first half which saw an amazing 17 errors, of which the hosts made 10 and completed only nine sets as well as giving away five penalties.

But the Cowboys finally found their feet and their hands after the restart with star full-back Matt Bowen shining with two tries on his return from a rib cartilage injury.

The win is sure to come at a cost for the Cowboys with Blues second rower Luke O'Donnell suffering a serious knee injury and hooker Aaron Payne going off with a rotator cuff injury in the first 20 minutes.

John Williams, who was came off with a corked thigh, picked up the game's first try in the 43rd minute before Ty Williams iced the game with seven minutes to go after Bowen's double.

Matthew Wright crossed for the Sharks' only points in what was a disappointing display by a Cronulla side that was toppled by the bottom-of-the-table Roosters last week.

The Cowboys leapfrogged the Knights into fifth position on 20 points by virtue of for and against while the Sharks' season is as good as over after their 11th loss of the year.

Bowen praised the determination of his big forwards who continued to battle on despite only one fit man on the bench.

"In the first half we defended a couple of sets on our line and we lost two boys. It was a big defensive effort tonight and we came home with the win," he told ABC Grandstand.

"This win puts us right up there. We have the bye next weekend which is another two points.

"If we can get a few more wins we'll be looking forward to the back end of the season."

Coach Neil Henry rated the win as one of the best by the club considering the circumstances.

"We need to be able to defend our line, you can't be a serious contender in this competition if you can't defend your line," he said.

"Even though we can score points we haven't really proved we can defend, particularly in the last 4-5 weeks, but they certainly turned up tonight.

"It was a gutsy performance and it needed to be because it was in the balance there for a bit at 0-0 at half-time."

Cowboys: 24 (M Bowen 2, J Williams, T Williams tries; J Thurston 4/5 goals)

Sharks: 4 (M Wright try; L Covell 0/1 goals)

Source: ABC News

Audio: Neil Henry ABC Interview


RleagueBetting Preview: Cowboys v Sharks - NRL Round 17
Sat July 4, 2009
Source: RleagueBetting.com

The Sharks have the capability to provide plenty of nuisance value this season.

While the Cowboys are easily favourites for this match, the $4.95 odds of a Sharks victory from Flemington Sportsbet are too tempting to pass up on. You can also get odds of $6.50 of a Sharks victory by 1-12 from Sports Alive.

If you want to back the Cowboys, consider Centrebet's quote of $1.50 for a Cowboys/Cowboys Half Time/Normal Time Double - good value considering you can get $1.40 elsewhere.

With the game total exceeding 45 points in each of the last 3 Cowboy's home games, take the $1.83 from Bet365 that 41 or more points will be scored in the match.

If you think Matt Bowen will be back to spark the Cowboys attack, you can get excellent odds of $13 from Sportingbet

that he will be 1st Try Scorer - this is almost double the $7 available elsewhere.

Click Here to Compare Odds on Cowboys vs Sharks

NRL Live Scores & Stats: Cowboys v Sharks
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