Cherry-Evans nails golden point field goal to gun down Cowboys

A Jason Saab hat-trick and golden point field goal from skipper Daly Cherry-Evans saw the Manly Sea Eagles post an important win in Townsville against a desperate Cowboys. 

The Sea Eagles got off to the perfect start, putting in a strong defence set to get into the game and when they got an opportunity with the ball, skipper Daly Cherry-Evans showed his skill to help set up the first try, holding up the defenders with a dummy before passing long to an unmarked Jason Saab who scored.

However, their first play after points was an error and gave the Cowboys a chance to hit back, but they weren’t able to immediately capitalise, even butchering a try when Chad Townsend spilled the ball once he got over the line. 

Thankfully for the Roosters-bound halfback, he didn’t have to wait long to make amends, scoring the home side’s opening try only moments later, starting the successful play when he threw a pass out wide to his right to winger Kyle Feldt who kicked in field for a trailing Townsend who made no mistake. Valentine Holmes kicked the conversion to draw scores level 6-6.

They nearly went back-to-back, a break from Jordan McLean and a pass out to Jeremiah Nanai was ruled forward.

After a frenetic opening with both sides on the board in the opening 12 minutes, the match then became much more of an arm wrestle, and while the Cowboys showed plenty of attacking intent, they were left to rue making too many errors and bombed a total of three likely tries in the first half. 

Manly made them pay when they had the ball, with Saab again the beneficiary of another great pass from Cherry-Evans, this time a double pump, to put him over on the right wing, with Reuben Garrick’s conversion given them a 12-6 lead.

The Sea Eagles also could have gone into the sheds further in front when Saab set up Haumole Olakau’atu after burning the Cowboys down the right sideline, only for it to be called back for a forward pass. 

The errors again proved costly for the Cowboys as they started the second half, with Saab getting his hat-trick after North Queensland spilled the ball when pushing at the opposition tryline, only for Tolutau Koula to pick it up off the deck and sprint downfield, throwing the ball out to his supporting winger for his third try. Garrick converted for an 18-6 lead.

The momentum then changed however after the plague of errors proved contagious, with the Sea Eagles gifting the Cowboys possession. After forcing a line dropout, the ball found a hard-running Reuben Cotter who stepped through the defence to narrow the scores. 

They went back-to-back when Feldt added to his try-scoring tally, touching down just before tumbling over the sideline, with Holmes nailing a difficult kick to draw level 18-18.

Manly had thought they had broken the deadlock when Garrick pounced on a loose ball, only to have a try of their own disallowed when it was ruled that Saab had tackle Murray Taulagi in the air when they had both gone up initially to contest the kick. 

In a dramatic final few moments, there were four missed field goal attempts – including three from Townsend – with both sides desperate to claim the important two points. 

The frantic passage of play that led the game into golden point started when Cotter was penalised for holding on to Cherry-Evans who was trailing in support, which was followed by another penalty with just under six minutes left on the clock when forward Toafofoa Sipley won a captain’s challenge, overturning a knock on ruling. Garrick kicked the goal from in front to push his side in front 20-18.

Cowboys fullback Scott Drinkwater then upped the ante with a successful two-point field goal attempt with 3.21 minutes to go in the game to lock the scores at 20-20, but the pressure was immense on both teams. 

Forward Jeremiah Nanai knocked the ball on from the kick off and unsuccessfully challenged the ruling, giving Manly a scrum feed 10 out from the Cowboys line and Manly tried to set up for a field goal, only for Cherry-Evans to miss his first attempt.  

Both sides tried to shoot it out before regular time ran out but could not nail their kicks. In golden point, the Cowboys again had their chances, but this time it was Holmes who could not ice the opportunity, leading to Cherry-Evans stepping up to finally stop the clock and claim the 21-20 win.

Match Snapshot

• Daly Cherry-Evans kicked his seventh field goal game-winning field goal to clinch the golden point victory.
• Manly winger Jason Saab scored an early hat-trick, but left the field mid-way through the second half with cramps. 
• At halftime, the Cowboys had made eight errors while the Sea Eagles had only made three. 
• The match was Manly gun Tom Trbojevic’s first game back from injury since Round 10, making his return at centre rather than fullback. 
• Luke Brooks went on report late in the first half for a high tackle attempt on Cowboys winger Kyle Feldt. 
• Manly backrower Ben Trbojevic left the field for a HIA in the opening moments of the second half and did not return.
• Cowboys hooker Reece Robson became the first player to appear in 50 games at QCB Stadium.
• Manly prop Josh Aloiai played his 150th NRL game.
• Cowboys winger Kyle Feldt has scored six tries in his past six games.
• The Cowboys have won only three of their past nine games at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
• The Sea Eagles have not been defeated in Townsville since 2016.

Play of the Game 

While the game had plenty of highlight moments, including a two-point field goal from Scott Drinkwater and a golden point winner from Daly Cherry-Evans, it seems fitting to instead give the play of the game to a match-winning try. A sprinter in his junior years Tolutau Koula’s run to set up fellow speedster Jason Saab up for his hat-trick was an impressive display of athleticism, with Manly going 96 metres to score.  

What they Said

“Really disappointing, heartbreaking, to tell the truth. (We had) multiple chances to win the game; but when you’re wasting opportunities like we did in that first half and then five field goals shots, you have got to  get those moments done.” – North Queensland Cowboys coach Todd Payten

“I think we had had good practice with where we need to be to give our blokes that kick the field goals a shot and thought the boys created some really good momentum and it’s just disappointing that we couldn’t ice the game.” – North Queensland Cowboys captain Tom Dearden

“It was really hard-fought win, we made it hard for ourselves at times. I was just really proud of the guys, they found a way to save a couple of tries, get a touch on one of the field goal attempts and obviously a big play from Chez [Daly Cherry-Evans]. A really, really pleasing win; Cowboys obviously a very, very good side and it was a high- quality game. That first half, the ball in play would have been huge, so we were really pleased.” – Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold

What’s Next

In Round 19, the Sea Eagles will host the Knights at 4 Pines Park on Sunday.

The Cowboys will have the week off with their second bye of the season.