Fijian winger Semi Valemei scored a brace of tries for the North Queensland Cowboys as they created history in NRL by demolishing the Wests Tigers 74-0 in Round 18 on Saturday.
The Cowboys rewrote the history books in front of a sell-out home crowd at Queensland Country Bank Stadium in Townsville.
Six weeks on from being humbled by the Tigers 66-18 at Leichhardt Oval, the Cowboys gave the Tigers a taste of their own medicine, recording the biggest scoreline to nil in NRL premiership history.
Both teams tussled hard but it was Tom Dearden, who broke the heavy Tigers’ defense wall in the 14th minute and two minutes later, impressive recruit Valemei and former Tiger Luciano Leilua found the line only moments after the kick-off.
Scott Drinkwater was next to get in on the action, running in two tries of his own in the 24th and 29th minute while Murray Tuilagi and Valentine Holmes piled the additional tries.
Valentine Holmes booted in seven conversions stretching the Cowboys’ lead to 42-nil at half time.
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.
Errors by the Tigers opened up more opportunities for the Cowboys which Jeremiah Nanai and Jordan McLean took advantage of and scored two consolation tries while slotting four conversions to seal their biggest victory.
