Saturday third NRL Round 3 match is between North Queensland Cowboys and New Zealand Warriors with the opening kick to commence at 9:00pm. The game is to be played at 1300SMILES Stadium which see’s home team North Queensland Cowboys hold favouritism in the market. View our NRL live scores, odds and results for the game between North Queensland Cowboys and New Zealand Warriors.
WHERE AND WHEN: 1300SMILES Stadium, Saturday 22 March 2014 Kickoff 9:00pm
[iframe_loader width=”690″ height=”400″ src=”https://www.sportsnews.com.au/nrl/match.php?id=3135216″]
Odds Comparison:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| North Queensland Cowboys | 1.38 | 1.38 | 1.35 | 1.38 | 1.38 | 1.35 |
| New Zealand Warriors | 3.15 | 3.10 | 3.30 | 3.10 | 3.15 | 3.20 |
All odds are subject to change. Odds listed are correct at the time of the latest update.
Preview:
After getting the better of the Canberra Raiders in the opening round (28 – 22), the Cowboys ventured to Brisbane to take on the Broncos last Friday night.
The Broncos narrowly won both clashes between the sides last year and again, courtesy of a try in the final five minutes of the game, were able to extend their winning sequence to three with a hard fought 16 – 12 victory.
The Cowboys were again slow to start and found themselves behind 6 – 0 after as many minutes. As always, they were sparked into action by Johnathan Thurston who crossed for his second try of the season in the 14th minute.
A crucial try to the Broncos just before half-time, saw them take a 10 – 6 lead into the break.
The Cowboys scored first in the second and twice deep in the second half, looked set to take the lead but desperate defence by the Broncos, who had a total of nine ‘try-saves’ for the game, prevented firstly Kane Linnett and then Johnathan Thurston from scoring for the Cowboys despite both getting the ball over the line.
It was a loss were the Cowboys paid the ultimate price for too many errors.
After a plain performance in round 1 which saw them on the wrong side of a 36 – 16 against Parramatta, the Warriors were installed short-priced favourites to bounce back to form at home despite facing off against their bogey side, St. George Dragons in round 2.
The Warriors, as they needed to do, scored first and early through Sam Tomkins and with a further try to Jerome Ropati in the 25th minute, had their nose in front at half-time 12 – 6.
In the second half though, it was all the Dragons who scored four unanswered tries and won comfortably 31 – 12.
It was another uninspiring effort by the Warriors and with a tough road trip to Townsville this weekend things will not get any easier for the New Zealand side. The Warriors have lost each of their last two games away to the Cowboys by 20 and 40 points.
Warriors Coach Matt Elliot has made several changes for this clash and will welcome back winner Manu Vatuvei as he looks for something to spark his side.
The Cowboys need to start better than what they have done so in the past fortnight and give themselves the opportunity to play from the front, rather than playing catch-up. This should place less pressure on their attack and minimise the errors.
The Warriors have to make significant improvement and it’s hard to know from where this will come. They were lucky to lead at half-time last week as the Dragons had two disallowed tries and were disappointing in the second half not to capitalize on that opportunity.
Cowboys should win this one comfortably.
Teams:
North Queensland Cowboys:
1. Michael Morgan 2. Kyle Feldt 3. Brent Tate 4. Kane Linnett 5. Antonio Winterstein 6. Johnathan Thurston 7. Robert Lui 8. Matthew Scott 9. Ray Thompson 10. James Tamou 11. Gavin Cooper 12. Jason Taumalolo 13. Tariq Sims 14. Rory Kostjasyn 15. Glenn Hall 16. Ashton Sims 17. Scott Bolton
New Zealand Warriors:
1. Sam Tomkins 2. Glen Fisiiahi 3. Dane Nielsen 4. Jerome Ropati 5. Manu Vatuvei 6. Chad Townsend 7. Shaun Johnson 8. Sam Rapira 9. Nathan Friend 10. Ben Matulino 11. Jayson Bukuya 12. Simon Mannering 13. Feleti Mateo 14. Jacob Lillyman 15. Suaia Matagi 16. Sione Lousi 17. John Palavi 20. Konrad Hurrell
In the news:
North Queensland expect desperation but for an out-of-sorts Warriors a trip to Townsville is the last thing they need in their hunt for a first NRL win of the season.
The New Zealand club has only won four of 15 matches against the Cowboys in Townsville with the last of those victories coming way back in April 2002.
Since then the Warriors have travelled to the tropics eight times and come up short including a 52-12 thumping on their last visit in round 23, 2012.
It’s hardly the kind of news Warriors coach Matt Elliott will want to hear after the club’s underwhelming start to the season with defeats to Parramatta and St George Illawarra.
Cowboys coach Paul Green is wary of his opposition however as he aims to bounce back to winning ways following last weekend’s heartbreaking defeat to intra-state rivals Brisbane.
“They’re a proud team, they’re a proud club,” Green said of the Warriors.
“They’ve got some very good individual players there who I’m sure wouldn’t like the criticism that’s been aimed at them.
“The coach, people are pointing the finger, there’s a little bit of talk about him being under pressure.
“I’m sure that they’ll be desperate to come over here and arrest that and try to get a win at all costs.
“We’re up against a desperate team so we need to be just as desperate.”
Despite the loss to the Broncos, Green has named an unchanged 17 for Saturday’s match.
The Warriors welcome back big winger Manu Vatuvei after he missed the Dragons’ loss due to illness and injury.
Green said the return of the New Zealand international winger would be something to consider along with dynamic backs Shaun Johnson and Sam Tomkins.
“I’m sure they’ll try to get a bit of second-phase play happening,” Green said.
“Johnson and Tomkins are very dangerous in broken field play. Plenty of speed and footwork. It’s important we’re doing a good job through the middle there.
“The big fella (Vatuvei) gets back and comes off the back fence, looks to get their sets started well. He’ll be a handful for us.”
