Cowboys will duel for Origin spot
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Murray Taulagi are set to battle it out for the vacant wing spot in Queensland’s Origin side with their first chance on Friday night.
North Queensland coach Todd Payten says it’s a sign of the form his players are exuding as versatile backs Murray Taulagi and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow challenge each other for Queensland’s vacant wing spot.
The pair were reserves in the Maroons’ 16-10 victory over NSW on Wednesday and are primed to duel each other for the berth created by an injury to Melbourne’s Xavier Coates.
Taulagi has shown rapid improvement since last season with his ball running and high-flying finishing one of the reasons behind the Cowboys’ success in 2022.
He averages 138 running metres per game, has scored eight tries in 13 appearances and leads the NRL in intercepts with four.
Playing in the centres now, Tabuai-Fidow has scored four tries in his injury-affected season and averages just under 50 less running metres than his teammate.
But the ‘Hammer’ already has an Origin cap to his name, scoring on debut in Game 3 of last season’s series.
“That’s good for us as a club. We have two guys essentially having a shoot out over the next couple of weeks fighting out for that spot,” Payten said on Thursday.
“Form will get them there and that means they’re going to have a crack for us … which is good.”
The Cowboys return home on Friday night after splitting their last two away fixtures with a loss against Penrith before a comfortable win over Gold Coast.
Payten has named an unchanged side for their clash with St George Illawarra, but could shuffle-in his returning Origin players depending on their fitness.
“I had intentions of playing them – questioning myself at the moment. …I know what they’re going to say when we’re talking today, it’s probably more how they say it and then make some calls around that,” he said.
For the Dragons, Ben Hunt has been named in their side after a stellar appearance for the Maroons, with NSW representative Tariq Sims also named in the forwards.
Coach Anthony Griffin said Friday’s contest will be their biggest test of the season playing against the competition’s in-form outfit.
“They’re probably the form team of the competition at the moment, they’ve put five or six together and doing it very well so they’re going to be very hard to beat,” he said.
“We’ve had a couple of wins but this will be our biggest test,” he said.
By: Fraser Barton, AAP
Comments on RugbyPass
The Harlequins team must be in minus figures. Did the reporter actually watch the game?
2 Go to commentsHow on earth did Walker escape a red card? Not dangerous? Dupont has his face in a mask earlier this season. Shocking decision. What is the point of TMOs? We had the Fassi ‘non-penalty try’ yesterday and now this.
2 Go to commentsCould have been a different result but yet again French tv able to affect the result by not showing the very clear high shot on harlequin centre if this would have been on a French player would have been on screen at least five times
2 Go to commentsAmazing. The losing team’s ratings are higher than the winning team’s. Mallia definitely didn’t deserve a y. What game were you watching? Should have got a w or an x. ADP hardly featured in that second half. At one point I wondered when he’d been subbed. Seems to me as if he gets an automatic 9 just for getting onto the team sheet.
2 Go to commentsI’m sorry. That second half was far from enthralling. It was painful to watch.
2 Go to commentsVery generous! If you’d missed the game, reading this you’d conclude that it was the Quins front row that cost them the game. Marler getting a blanket 6 for his demented contribution to the game. Puzzling.
2 Go to commentsCan’t see Toulouse beating Leinster at this rate.
7 Go to commentsADP was having a very average game until winning that penalty for Toulouse, sticking his big head in the way. “The head of God”?
7 Go to commentsHarlequins doing their best to do as little damage as possible with all the possession. Looks like they skipped catch and pass drills this week.
7 Go to commentsSeeing pictures of Jacques high-fiving it with Irish players breaks my heart. Too soon. I need more time.
1 Go to commentsquins is all over the place. The minute they get the ball they panic. Quins can still win tho just need to win all rucks otherwise just don't bother.
7 Go to commentsGreat wins for the male & female kiwi sides. Ireland not far away..
1 Go to commentsWhy is this dude getting so much coverage? Usually knobs like this get cancelled.
2 Go to commentsWow. What was that? A 3 million word meandering article about what exactly?
2 Go to commentsNice piece of writing. And yes the Sharks pulled a rabbit from the hat and were a little lucky with that penalty try that wasn’t given… however the Sharks (with their resources) should be way more consistent and should be putting teams like Claremont away for breakfast. I expect more from them and hope they kick on now.
8 Go to commentsJust what the Sharks needed to get things going in the right direction Defence on the outside really creates havoc for the whole team and needs to be addressed.
8 Go to commentsWell done guys both teams will be ready to play knockout rugby.
1 Go to commentsSurprised that Ramos isn't starting at 15. But what a squad of galacticos!
2 Go to commentsWhy is it a snub? What journalistic garbage is that? Sure the guy is a great player, but there are plenty of loose forwards and not all of them can be Springboks. Also, I know of no-one who doubts Rassie’s judgment. South Africa has a conveyor belt of loose forwards that just keeps producing, so the competition is intense. I certainly wish him well, but there is no entitlement and there is no snub.
17 Go to commentsSkelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
6 Go to comments