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Nick Markham | Rugbyleaguelive | 22/08/09 | 0
AUDIO - On the sideline with Kurt Gidley [Fox]
A stunning second half turnaround from Newcastle has killed off North Queensland's finals hopes, with the Knights outgunning the Cowboys 32-26 on Saturday night at Energy Australia Stadium.
After conceding the opening try the Cowboys dominated a listless Newcastle in the first half, running in four tries to take a commanding 22-8 lead to the break.
But the Knights emerged from the change rooms a different side, finishing all over the top of a North Queensland side that showed an alarming lack of desperation, despite the fact their season was on the line.
Veteran centre Adam MacDougall sparked the Knights revival in the 48th minute with his second try, following an a incisive 25 metre burst from Isaac DeGois.
The Knights surged up field from the restart, and made it two tries in the space of three minutes when Jarrod Mullen threaded a deft grubber in behind the Cowboys defensive line that was grounded by Chris Houston.
Kurt Gidley's conversion from adjacent to the posts closed the gap to 22-20, and in a further blow to the Cowboys, Matt Bowen was forced from the field after re-injuring his left knee.
Newcastle's remarkable resurgence gave them the lead in the 62nd minute, when Mullen pierced the North Queensland line inside his own half and sprinted 70 metres to give the Knights a 26-22 lead after Gidley's conversion.
North Queensland hit back almost immediately through Watts who broke through the Knights defensive line and looked set to score, before inexplicably throwing a long ball out to his winger Michael Bani that was several metres forward.
Newcastle put the match beyond doubt in the 69th minute, when Mullen left more Cowboys defenders clutching at thin air before linking with DeGois, who in turn found Wes Naiqama for the home side's fourth try of the half.
The Cowboys ran in a late try to Bani in the 79th minutes, but it was too little, too late for the visitors.
An early ruck infringement penalty resulted in first blood to the Knights, when a cross-kick from Mullen was knocked back by Akuila Uate to a waiting MacDougall, who touched down for the simplest of tries.
The Cowboys hit back in bizarre fashion off the back of a penalty in the 8th minute, when Johnathan Thurston caught the Knights defence napping to take a quick tap and dive between a bemused Uate and MacDougall to score.
Thurston missed the conversion from out wide, before Gidley added a penalty goal in the 13th minute to put the home side in front 8-4.
Some stunning inter-play from Grant Rovelli and Thurston resulted in the North Queensland skipper grabbing his second try in the 25th minute, giving the Cowboys a 10-8 lead following the conversion from directly in front.
The visitors went the length of the field from the restart, scoring through a brilliant chip and re-gather out of dummy half from hooker Anthony Watts to give the Cowboys a 16-8 lead after Thurston's conversion.
A clever kick into the in-goal from Thurston on zero tackle was impressively grounded by Willie Tonga for the Cowboys fourth try, with the skipper's conversion from out wide making it 22-8 in favour of North Queensland.
NEWCASTLE 32 (A MacDougall 2 C Houston J Mullen W Naiqama tries K Gidley 6 goals) bt NORTH QUEENSLAND 26 (J Thurston 2 M Bani W Tonga A Watts tries J Thurston 3 goals) at EnergyAustralia Stadium. Referee: Ashley Klein, Jason Robinson. Crowd: 15,408.
We were very worried at halftime, our energy was on the way down...
Rick Stone, Knights coach
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