Dogs suffer defeat to Cowboys

The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have been defeated by the North Queensland Cowboys 24-16 at ANZ Stadium.

The opening set of the game resulted in a Lachlan Lewis 40/20 before the half grabbed the first try of the match in the 4th minute.

Lewis finished off a nice short side play that saw Nick Meaney break away down the eastern touchline and find his halfback supporting on the inside who scored next to the post.

Brandon Wakeham converted the try to give the home side an early 6 nil lead.

Back-to-back errors from the Bulldogs gave the visitors great field position and they took advantage of it when Coen Hess crashed over off a Michael Morgan pass.

The kick was waved away, but the Cowboys had their second try for the night five minutes later through Scott Drinkwater who scored from a scrum 25 metres out from the Dogs line.

Valentine Holmes converted the try and North Queensland led 10-6 with over 20 minutes left in the half.

Ben Hampton crossed for the Cowboys third try in the 25th minute with Holmes added a further two points.

The Dogs were down to 12 men when Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was sent to the sin bin in the 27th minute for a professional foul and the visitors took advantage of Canterbury being down a player when Jason Taumalolo scored right next to the post with four minutes until the break.

Holmes added his third conversion for the day to give the Cowboys a 16-point lead at half-time.

The Bulldogs were first to add points to the scoreboard following the break when Renouf To’omaga cruised over for his first NRL try in the 45th minute.

To’omaga ran a nice line off an Adam Elliott pass to run 30 metres untouched and score Canterbury’s second try of the night.

Wakeham converted to close the Cowboys lead to ten.

The only points that came for the second 40 from North Queensland was from a Valentine Holmes penalty goal in the 57th minute.

Canterbury grabbed a late try on the full time siren through winger Christian Crichton thanks to an inch-perfect grubber from debutant Jake Averillo, but it was too little too late and the Cowboys ran out 24-16 winners.