The Raiders NYC team has been defeated 42-26 in the opening to their season, in a match where they looked to comeback twice only to be thwarted by the Cowboys scoring back to back tries in both the first and second halves.
The Raiders opened the scoring when Leu Saipani scored his first try in his debut match in the NYC team and despite the missed conversion the Raiders led 4-0 after 11 minutes.
The Cowboys hit back three minutes later through Pat Kaufusi, when he ran a nice line to score for North Queensland. Alex Grant converted for a 6-4 lead.
The Cowboys scored again soon after through Scott Schulte on his debut for the Cowboys, with the Grant conversion giving them a 12-4 lead.
This was extended when Alex Grant cleaned up a Delayne Ashby kick for the Cowboys third try, Grants third goal gave them a handy 18-4 lead.
A mistake by the Raiders from a Cowboys high ball gave them more possession and Noth Queensland made them pay, when Lenny Magey scored. Grant missed his first kick at goal but the Cowboys were up 22-4.
The Cowboys looked as if they were going to score in the lead in to halftime, but Hayden Crowley lost the ball as he attempted to score, then the Raiders marched downfield to score their second try as Ricky Garard crossed. The Raiders converted the try through Josh Baker and went into the break 22-10 down.
The Raiders continued their momentum straight after halftime when they scored the first try of the second half through Matt Frawley. Baker missed the goal, but the deficit was back 8 at 22-14.
The comeback was shortlived as Alex Grant grabbed his double, while Grant set up Crowley for another Cowboys try. Grants conversion made it 32-14.
That lead was extended to 36-14 with 25 minutes left, then Andrew Heffernan sparked another Raiders comeback when he scored to make the score 36-20 after the Baker conversion.
This continued when another Raiders try was scored underneath the posts, with Bakers conversion bringing it back to a 10 point margin at 36-26 with around 12 minutes left. However the Cowboys scored on the stroke of fulltime to win 42-26.
