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 in the match, putting in a strong defensive set to get into the game to set the tone and when they got an opportunity with the ball, 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 Saab who scored.

However, their first set after points saw 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 ran 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.

The Cowboys then nearly went back-to-back, following a line break from Jordan McLean who threw out a pass out to Jeremiah Nanai which 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 potential 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 for his second try, 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 and give the Cowboys hope. 

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 in the in-goal, only to have a try of their own disallowed when it was ruled that Saab had tackled 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 when he was trailing running a support play, with that compounded 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 in a frantic period of play with a successful two-point field goal attempt with 3.21 minutes to go in the game to lock the scores at 20-20 and 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. 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.