A dominant North Queensland Toyota Cowboys National Youth Competition side have notched up their second win in a row in round 3 at 1300SMILES Stadium, defeating the Sydney Roosters 34-16.
Urgent defence and consistent attack had the Cowboys holding the Roosters up in goal several times, and counter-attacking with a superb kicking game from Cooper Bambling.
The Roosters had their tails up in the back end of both halves, but lacked the attacking power to consistently break the Cowboys’ stoic defence.
The home side opened the scoring in the second minute of the game after an unforced error by the Roosters resulted in Nathan Traill crossing on the left side courtesy of an offload. Cody Grills converted to make it 6-0.
Jordan Kenworthy crossed under the posts for the Cowboys after sustained pressure and Cody Grills's conversion was successful, stretching the lead to 12 points.
Brandon Smith added to the tally after a scoot from dummy-half saw the hooker slam the ball down under the black dot.
Cody Grills made no mistake with the conversion and the Cowboys pushed the lead to 18-0.
The Roosters registered points through Reuben Porter, crossing the line on the right side of the field off a short pass from Grant Garvey out of dummy-half. Jake Steadman failed to convert, leaving the score at 18-4.
After a repeat set in the opening minutes of the second half, Cody Grills scooped up a deft grubber kick from halfback Cooper Bambling to score and the successful conversion made it 24-4 in the 47th minute.
Gideon Gela-Mosby added his name to the scoring tally, with a length-of-the-field effort off the restarting set, and Cody Grills again converted, stretching the score to 30-4.
The tries continued to roll in as a short pass from Kalyn Ponga out wide saw Enari Tuala score in the 55th minute.
It took the Roosters until the 65th minute to score again, this time through Shaquai Mitchell, and the successful conversion by Jake Steadman brought the score to 34-10.
Although the Roosters were resurgent in the latter end of the game, a last-minute try to Bernard Lewis was too little, too late, with the Cowboys taking out the game 34-16.
North Queensland Toyota Cowboys NYC 34 (Nathan Traill, Jordan Kenworthy, Brandon Smith, Cody Grills, Gideon Gela-Mosby, Enari Tuala tries; Cody Grills 5 goals) def Sydney Roosters NYC 16 (Reuban Porter, Jake Steadman, Bernard Lewis tries; Jake Steadman 2 goals)
