Michael Morgan rises to the occasion as North Queensland down New Zealand 17-10
Inspired performances from Michael Morgan and Josh McGuire have catapulted North Queensland to their second win of the season as they downed New Zealand 17-10.
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The Cowboys have resurrected their finals’ aspirations with a gritty 17-10 Easter Saturday win over New Zealand.
North Queensland were able to scrap together a grinding win to notch up their second win of the season and break their Mt Smart Stadium hoodoo.
The pressure was beginning to mount on North Queensland who went into the match on the back of a four-game losing streak.
And with a poor record in Auckland, coach Paul Green was praying for an Easter miracle.
Mt Smart Stadium was becoming somewhat of a fortress for North Queensland, who had lost eight of their past ten games at the ground.
But they were able to scrap together their second win of the season and their first victory over the Warriors since 2017 in last night’s game.
Green’s men put in a gritty performance over the home side who were led by the brilliance of Dally M medallist Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
However, the Cowboys’ $5 million man Michael Morgan was best on ground against a poor New Zealand side who failed to make the most of the opportunities given to them.
North Queensland’s forward pack helped take the pressure off Morgan and allowed him to control the entire match on the back of a strong kicking game.
Milestone man Josh McGuire epitomised his forwards’ performance running for a game high 214m in his 200th NRL game.
Fellow forwards Jordan McLean, Gavin Cooper, and John Asiata also ran for more than 100m in their side’s win.
Morgan credited his side’s defensive effort after the match as the key to the Cowboys’ win.
“It’s a relief to get this win,” he said.
“It was a tough game. We had to grind it out there.
“Defence (was the key) down on our tryline.
“We knew we had to work hard defensively and that was our focus.”
It was Scott Bolton’s return to the NRL following his five-match suspension and it took just 10mins for him to be injected into the side off the bench.
Coach Paul Green said during the week he had been counting on his experienced players, including Bolton, to help his side find a win and they definitely played their part.
Coen Hess was another standout, making some strong carries and scoring his first try of the year.
The win made sure the Cowboys weren’t repeating last year’s poor start and will give them confidence heading into their clash against the Bulldogs on Friday night.
The Warriors found first points in the left hand corner through winger Ken Maumalo, who has now scored three tries from his past three games against the Cowboys.
Cowboy backrower Coen Hess hit back seven minutes later through a clever run by five-eight Jake Clifford and hit the lead 6-4 through Jordan Kahu.
Back-to-back no tries to the Warriors prevented the home side from regaining the lead and a Cowboys’ penalty conversion gave them an 8-4 lead going into halftime.
A bit of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck magic helped the Warriors take back the lead in the second half but Morgan returned serve with his own trick play to send O’Neill over the line.
The scrappy win was epitomised by an ugly Morgan field goal, which just sailed over the posts to give the Cowboys a 17-10 win and their second victory of the year.
NORTH QUEENSLAND 17 (C Hess J O’Neill tries J Kahu 4 goals M Morgan field goal) bt NZ WARRIORS 10 (K Maumalo R Tuivasa-Sheck tries C Harris-Tavita goal) at Mt Smart Stadium. Referee: Jon Stone, Peter Gough. Crowd: 11,395
Originally published as Michael Morgan rises to the occasion as North Queensland down New Zealand 17-10
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