Manly show incredible defensive resolve in stunning 30-8 win over North Queensland

UNDER-MANNED and under siege for much of the match, Manly have dug deep to earn a 30-8 upset win over the previously unbeaten Cowboys.

TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA — MARCH 18: Brenton Lawrence (#8) of the Sea Eagles celebrates after scoring a try during the round three NRL match between the North Queensland Cowboys and the Manly Sea Eagles at 1300 SMILES Stadium on March 18, 2017 in Townsville, Australia. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

COWBOYS coach Paul Green has labelled his side’s shocking loss to Manly as “unCowboy-like” after his side failed to find its attacking spark on home soil.

North Queensland went into the Round 3 clash without big name forwards Matt Scott (ACL) and Jason Taumalolo (suspension), and the absence of the duo showed as the side were embarrassed 30-8 by an under-siege Manly side.

While the forwards did their best to get the team moving forward, nothing worked for the Cowboys on a humid night in Townsville.

Johnathan Thurston’s side were sloppy in attack and unable to shut down a determined Manly outfit, which picked up its first win of the NRL season after a week in which the future of coach Trent Barrett was questioned.

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It was a lacklustre performance from the home side following two weeks of golden- point victories, including last round’s Friday night thriller against hosts the Broncos.

The Cowboys missed the power of Jason Taumalolo.

Green said the past two games and their missing players could not be used an excuse.

“You could use that as an excuse if you wanted to but it didn’t seem to worry the Broncs on Thursday night in a tough game,” he said, after the Broncos almost upset the Storm in Melbourne.

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“We were probably a little bit slack to be fair.

‘‘It was still an unCowboy-like performance.

“We just lacked a bit of patience. We went away from what we do well.

“That’s one of our strengths is our consistency with how we play.

“In some pressure moments in that game, we went away from that and that’s the disappointing part.”

The Cowboys finished with 11 errors and conceded nine penalties in a performance that few will be happy with.

Similar to their Round 1 home win over Canberra,

Kalyn Ponga was well contained in his first start at fullback.

North Queensland had plenty of help with the majority of possession at 52 per cent, plus the advantage in the penalty count, but they struggled to ­execute.

Hooker Jake Granville pulled off his trademark move from dummy-half in the 27th minute to barrel over the line for North Queensland’s only try of the game.

After losing big names like Scott, Taumalolo, Lachlan Coote (calf) and Antonio Winterstein (arm) ahead of the clash, the Cowboys were always going to struggle, but few expected it would end with this big a scoreline.

Scott Bolton definitely did his best to stand up in the place of his front row partner Scott, but it was simply not enough to get his team over the line.

Coen Hess and Ethan Lowe were also equally impressive in racking up some big metres.

Tom Trbojevic takes the ball up for Manly against the Cowboys. Picture: Wesley Monts

Unfortunately for the team, things are not looking up ahead of its derby against the Titans, with Justin O’Neill (hamstring) taken off in the first half and unable to return while Kyle Feldt struggled greatly throughout with an ankle injury.

The decision to fight Taumalolo’s shoulder charge suspension of one week will also be felt even more next week, as they go into the game off the back of this loss without their best forward once again.

The Cowboys will face their Queensland little brothers, who are suffering from an even worse injury crisis, at Cbus Super Stadium on the Gold Coast on Saturday.

MANLY 30 (J Hastings B Lawrence J Taufua T Trbojevic tries D Walker 7 goals) bt NORTH QUEENSLAND 8 (J Granville try J Thurston 2 goals) at 1300SMILES Stadium. Referee: Henry Perenara, Peter Gough. Crowd: 14,763.

Originally published as Manly show incredible defensive resolve in stunning 30-8 win over North Queensland