The Cowboys rewrote the history books on Saturday night to record a 74-0 defeat over the Wests Tigers in front of a sell-out home crowd at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
Six weeks on from being humbled by the Tigers 66-18 at Leichhardt Oval, the Cowboys gave the joint venture a taste of their own medicine and more, recording the biggest scoreline to nil in NRL premiership history.
Eight of Todd Payten's men crossed in front of the Cowboys faithful in the Round 18 clinic, but five-eighth Tom Dearden and fullback Scott Drinkwater were the stars of the show, combining for three tries, seven assists and 412 run metres.
Taulagi gets a triple
As good as the Cowboys were, the Tigers were extremely poor at times, struggling to generate anything in attack and spoiling any opportunities with cheap errors, of which they recorded 16 in total.
The Tigers were in the arm-wrestle for the first stages of the match but come the 15th minute and the home side were well on their way to a Saturday night drumming.
First it was Dearden who capitalised off an earlier break from Coen Hess. Thanks to an off the ball support play from Drinkwater, the athletic five-eighth found space and dummied through the line to score the first try for the home side.
Dearden opens the scoring
Already the cracks were showing for Tim Sheens' side and North Queensland crossed twice more in just six minutes, with new recruit Semi Valemei and former Tiger Luciano Leilua finding the line only moments after the kick-off. The Cowboys led 18-0 after 20 minutes.
With all the momentum behind the Cowboys and the Tigers already with 15 missed tackles to their name, Drinkwater was next to get in on the action, running in two tries of his own in the 24th and 29th minute.
Drinkwater is over
Things went from bad to worse for the visitors when veteran forward Alex Twal was sent to the bin for a hip-drop tackle on Luciano Leilua and the Cowboys began scoring tries for fun with Murray Taulagi and Valentine Holmes stretching the lead out 42-0 before the break.
It was all one way traffic again in the second-half with Valemei and Holmes making it a double for the night, and Taulagi crossing for his third as the Cowboys surpassed the 60 points mark.
Here's 50!
The Tigers mounted some pressure on their scoreline at the back end of the match but still couldn't put a point on the board and forwards Jeremiah Nanai and Jordan Mclean rubbed salt in the wounds late in the matching, icing the record 72-0 victory with tries of their own.
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Match Snapshot
- The Cowboys had 63 per cent of possession and completed 35 of 42 sets. The Tigers completed just 18 of 34 sets.
- The Cowboys lost their captain's challenge in the second minute when Rueben Cotter lost the ball and they unsuccessfully challenged the decision.
- The Cowboys led 42-0 at the break, their biggest half-time scoreline in the club's history.
- Winger Semi Valemei has scored five tries in his four games as a Cowboy.
- Alex Twal was sent to the sin bin in the 32nd minute for a hip-drop tackle.
- Cowboys fullback Scott Drinkwater was put on ice in the 70th minute for precautionary measures. Drinkwater continued his career-best form with two tries, five try assists and 217 run metres.
- Tigers forwards Shawn Blore and Isaiah Papali'i got through a mountain of work in defence, with 85 tackles between them.
- Tigers hooker Jake Simpkin was placed on report in the 76th minute for a Dangerous Tackle.
- The Cowboys have won six from eight at Queensland Country Bank Stadium in 2023.
- The Cowboys surpassed their biggest win in club history which was against the Tigers in Round 22, 2014... 64-6 at 1300SMILES Stadium in Townsville.
Play of the Game
After a 15-minute stalemate it was Coen Hess who ignited the Cowboys clinic on Saturday night. The barnstorming prop shrugged off several Tigers defenders before charging downfield before finding Reuben Cotter in support. Cotter then found halfback Chad Townsend in support but the skipper was eventually brought down 10m out from the in-goal. In the following plays, Dearden darted his way over the scoreline the line to open the Cowboys' account on Saturday night and it was all thanks to a huge break from Hess.
Huge linebreak from Hess
What They Said
"The scoreline is really positive because we are sitting outside the eight and in the back end of the season, for and against is going to be so crucial. But the thing that I'm most happy with isn't the 74, it's the zero. We spoke about that at halftime, made a commitment and the players defended really well and showed some real desire. The biggest adjustment to our game has been the kick chase and transition, that's made a real positive influence on our game." - Cowboys coach Todd Payten.
Cowboys: Round 18
"When you get beat like that there's nothing much you can say, bring on next week. Lucky we've got a Thursday night game because we just want to get back on the field. There's no excuses. We missed too many tackles, about 37 per cent possession, you just can't win a game like that. It's well known we've got a major part of our spine out but it's just unacceptable, we're not happy as a group." - Wests Tigers coach Tim Sheens
Wests Tigers: Round 18
What's Next
The Tigers will kick off Round 19 when they host the Sharks at CommBank Stadium on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Cowboys have a bye next week before they travel to Manly in Round 20 to meet with the Sea Eagles.