Cronulla Sharks fought back from a 0-14 half-time deficit to prevail 18-14 today against the North Queensland Cowboys at Southern Cross Stadium.
Joseph Paulo replaced Luke Capewell on the Sharks bench in Cronulla’s only change from the team announced on Tuesday, while the Cowboys were as named on Tuesday, with Johnathan Thurston still sidelined through injury.
In a game of two halves, the Cowboys built up a 14-0 half-time lead with tries from Antonio Winterstein, Ben Hampton and Kyle Feldt, who touched down just before the interval, before the Sharks responded in the second with three tries from James Maloney, Chad Townsend and Sosaia Feki, but the difference was that Maloney converted all three tries, while Feldt could only convert one try for the Cowboys.
Sharks: 1 Valentine Holmes, 2 Sosaia Feki, 3 Jack Bird, 4 Ricky Leutele, 5 Gerard Beale, 6 James Maloney, 7 Chad Townsend, 8 Andrew Fifita, 9 Jayden Brailey, 10 Chris Heighington, 11 Luke Lewis, 12 Wade Graham, 13 Paul Gallen (c); Interchange: 15 Jayson Bukuya, 16 Jeremy Latimore, 17 Sam Tagataese, 18 Joseph Paulo.
Tries: Maloney, Townsend, Feki; Goals: Maloney 3
Cowboys: 1 Lachlan Coote, 2 Kyle Feldt, 3 Justin O’Neill, 4 Kane Linnett, 5 Antonio Winterstein, 6 Michael Morgan, 7 Ray Thompson, 8 John Asiata, 9 Jake Granville, 10 Scott Bolton, 11 Gavin Cooper (c), 12 Ethan Lowe, 13 Jason Taumalolo; Interchange:, 14 Ben Hampton, 15 Coen Hess, 16 Shaun Fensom, 17 Ben Spina.
Tries: Winterstein, Hampton, Feldt; Goals: Feldt 1
Full coverage of all the weekend’s NRL matches can be found in Monday’s issue of League Express