As it happened: Cowboys spoil Tigers party; Broncos climb to fifth

Full-time: The Tigers will be left to ponder what might have been after they went 12 points up with 18 minutes to play before conceding three late tries to go down by six. Scott Drinkwater was simply superb for the Cowboys with 147 run metres, four tackle breaks and two try assists while Braidon Burns ran for 189 metres and Jason Taumalolo 163 metres.

80 min: Razzle dazzle attack from the Tigers but Reuben Cotter comes up with an intercept and the Cowboys will hang on to win and put paid to the Tigers' finals hopes. Cowboys 34-28.

76 min: Alex Twal is taken high coming out of his own end and the Tigers get a penalty.

74 min: The Tigers throw the ball around to try and create space but Tony Sukkar comes up with an error.

71 min: Scott Drinkwater leaves Brent Naden in his wake and charges into the back field before picking up Jaxon Purdue for the Cowboys' third try in five minutes. Drinkwater again steps up to land the conversion from wide out. Cowboys 34-28.

70 min: Latu Fainu leaves the field for a HIA which he passed.

68 min: The Cowboys come up with a cracker of their own as Scott Drinkwater goes to the left and delivers a bullet pass to Braidon Burns who rides a tackle and stretches out to score. Another ice cool conversion from Drinkwater and we are locked up at 28-28.

66 min: Viliami Vailea comes up with the final pass for Semi Valemei to cross in the corner and Scott Drinkwater comes up with a clutch conversion from touch. Tigers 28-22.

62 min: Latu Fainu hoists the ball high and Scott Drinkwater allows it to bounce. Brent Naden pours through and snatches the ball out of Braidon Burns' grasp to race away and make it two tries in three minutes for the Tigers. The successful conversion makes it 28-16.

60 min: A touch of class from Jarome Luai breaks the deadlock as he goes to the line and puts Jahream Bula into space before taking the return pass from the fullback to score under the posts. Luai's first try in Tigers colours is a crucial one and Api Koroisau adds the extras. Tigers 22-16.

54 min: Jason Taumalolo is sent back into the game by Todd Payten and immediately takes two hit-ups in his first set.

49 min: A Taylan May error is swooped on by Tom Dearden who spears away to score under the sticks and the Cowboys are back. Scott Drinkwater converts to lock us up at 16-16.

48 min: A monster kick by Jake Clifford almost produces a 40-20 for the Cowboys but Jeral Skelton gets back to tap the ball infield.

Purdue purring: Cowboys young gun Jaxon Purdue ran for 112 metres and proved a real handful for the home side with his classy footwork and ability to break a tackle.

Half-time: After trailing 10-0 early and losing Adam Doueihi the Tigers send the Leichhardt Oval crowd into raptures with two tries to Taylan May and a long-range cracker to Jahream Bula to lead by six. Bula finished the half with six tackle breaks while May had seven and Sunia Turuva five. 

38 min: The Tigers put in their contender for try of the year with a 90-metre special that starts with Samuela Fainu picking up the scraps from a Cowboys mistake and finding Jarome Luai who picks up Taylan May and the centre revives memories of Benji Marshall in the 2005 grand final with a flick pass to Sunia Turuva. The winger shows dazzling speed and footwork before picking up Jahream Bula who sprints 20 metres to finish off a fantastic try. Tigers 16-10.

35 min: Scott Drinkwater goes to the line and puts in a kick but it's too long and rolls dead to allow the Tigers a seven-tackle set.

33 min: Jarome Luai nudges a grubber towards the tryline and Tom Dearden does a great job to cover it up.

30 min: A dropped ball by Samuela Fainu on the last tackle hands the ball back to the Cowboys but the visitors come up with a forward pass from Reece Robson to Tom Dearden and the Tigers go on the attack again.

24 min: A double for Taylan May after slick hands from Jarome Luai and Samuela Fainu on the left edge. Api Koroisau bangs the conversion over from touch. 10-10.

22 min: The Cowboys lose their captain's challenge after Reece Robson loses the ball in a tackle and claims a strip but the bunker rules the Tigers defender had not played at the ball.

21 min: Fonua Pole gets over the stripe but is penalised for a double movement.

20 min: The Tigers launch a successful captain's challenge and have a full set inside the Red Zone.

17 min: A high tackle penalty against Reece Robson puts the Cowboys under pressure and Taylan May makes them pay when he slices through after Semi Valemei went up too quickly and came up with thin air. Api Koroisau steps up to take the conversion attempt with Adam Doueihi off the field. The skipper misses the kick. Cowboys 10-4.

15 min: Tigers halfback Adam Doueihi tries to go low on Jason Taumalolo but cops an accidental knee to the head and stays down. He leaves the field for a HIA sporting a decent shiner. Doueihi fails his assessment and is out for the day.

12 min: A mistake by Jeremiah Nanai gives the Tigers their first shot in good field position but Brent Naden is tackled on the last without the home team getting to a kick.

10 min: Jaxon Purdue splits the Tigers and finds Reece Robson in support before the ball finds its way to Semi Valemei who gets over iin the corner for the Cowboys' second try. Scott Drinkwater converts from wide out. Cowboys 10-0.

8 min: More pressure from the Cowboys before Jahream Bula comes up with a superb take off a Jake Clifford bomb to defuse the situation.

4 min: The Cowboys have all the ball early and Jake Clifford delivers a short ball for Jeremiah Nanai to power over on the left edge. Scott Drinkwater misses the conversion. Cowboys 4-0.

Late Mail

Wests Tigers: No further game day changes after centre Starford To'a succumbed to a shoulder injury suffered in last week's win over Manly and was ruled out on Saturday. Brent Naden comes into the starting side as his replacement. Heath Mason is the 18th man.

Cowboys: The Cowboys are 1-17 with no late changes. nsland are also settled after last week's win over Newcastle. No changes to the 17, with Kai O'Donnell set to play the role of 18th man. 

Numbers Game

• Wests Tigers have won nine of their last 11 games against the Cowboys at Leichhardt Oval.
• The Cowboys have won six of their last seven games against Wests Tigers.
• Wests Tigers winger Jeral Skelton has scored six tries in his last four games.
• Cowboys second-rower Jeremiah Nanai has scored eight tries in seven games against Wests Tigers.
• Wests Tigers five-eighth Jarome Luai will make his 150th NRL appearance.

Knights v Broncos at McDonald Jones Stadium

Full-time: A day out for the Broncos as they leapfrog the Panthers and Sharks on the ladder thanks to standout displays from Reece Walsh (176 run metres, 2 line breaks, 2 try assists, 12 tackle breaks), Payne Haas (21 runs for 229 metres) and Deine Mariner (252 run metres, 8 tackle breaks, 2 tries).

80 min: Gehamat Shibasaki is sin binned for a professional foul.

77 min: Gehamat Shibasaki comes up with a huge defensive play to steal the ball off Leo Thompson just two metres out from the line and heading off down field before finding Deine Mariner who goes a long way before Jordan Riki strolls through for a try on the next play. Milestone man Ben Hunt bangs over the conversion in game No.350 to make it 46-12.

74 min: Deine Mariner makes it a double after Reece Walsh goes to the line and sends a ball across the face of Gehamat Shibasaki to Mariner for the Broncos' eighth try. Broncos 40-12.

69 min: The Broncos go bang bang as Billy Walters sneaks down the short side and puts Gehamat Shibasaki over for his 13th try of the season to put an exclamation mark on the victory that lifts Michael Maguire's team to fifth on the ladder. Broncos 36-12.

67 min: Some Reece Walsh magic as the flashy fullback gets between Jack Cogger and Jermaine McEwen and glides 70 metres to score, evading Dane Gagai and outpacing James Schiller for a sizzling try to put the Broncos out by 20 with Tyson Smoothy's conversion. Broncos 32-12.

66 min: The Knights mount some pressure but Jake Arthur's kick at the end of the set sails too long and the Broncos come away with a seven-tackle set.

60 min: Payne Haas makes the Knights pay for their bombed try when he storms away for a Broncos four-pointer courtesy of a nice short pass from Pat Carrigan. Broncos 26-12.

58 min: Dane Gagai beats three defenders before sliding an offload to James Schiller who sends a pass back inside to Jake Arthur with open space in front of him but Arthur puts it down.

55 min: Try time for Bradman Best after a loose Knights offload is toed ahead by Jermaine McEwen who collides with Reece Walsh after getting a second kick on the ball. Best charges through and gets there first to score. Jack Cogger adds the extras. Broncos 20-12.

51 min: The Knights go to the air and the ball spills to Kobe Hetherington who knocks it on in trying to clean it up. The home side get a full set inside the Red Zone but Jacob Saifiti comes up with an error - the 10th of the day for Newcastle.

49 min: Jake Arthur sends a long 'harbour bridge' pass over to Dom Young but the ball lands at the winger's feet and he can't scoop it up.

45 min: The Broncos make the ball sing from left to right with Payne Haas involved before Ben Hunt's long pass frees up Kotoni Staggs who sends Deine Marine soaring into the corner for a try. Reece Walsh converts. Broncos 20-6.

42 min: Reece Walsh is dragged into touch on tackle one as the Broncos squander an early opportunity for points.

Centre stage: Bradman Best and Kotoni Staggs had a great battle with both producing some strong charges. Best had 10 runs for 98 metres while Staggs bagged the opening try of the match and ran for 102 metres.

Half-time: The Broncos completed 17 of 20 sets at 85 per cent while the home side had just 13 completed sets but managed to hang tough to only trail by eight points. The Broncos came up with 35 tackle breaks including eight from Josiah Karapani, whose footwork troubled the Knights. 

38 min: Another chance for the Knights goes begging when Jermaine McEwen puts the ball down with something building on the left edge.

33 min: The Knights cash in on the field position with Phoenix Crossland grubbering into the in goal and Leo Thompson powering through to regather the ball and score. Jack Cogger converts. Broncos 14-6.

31 min: A neat grubber by Jake Arthur is batted dead by Pat Carrigan and the Knights get to reload with another set.

27 min: Reece Walsh puts Jaiyden Hunt into space on the left edge and the back-rower sends the ball back inside to the fullback who chooses to offload to Kobe Hetherington who puts it down for a try in game No.100. Walsh could have scored himself but waited for Hetherington to come up beside him and he gifted the milestone man a try. Broncos 14-0.

25 min: The Knights get some good field position but Bradman Best's offload goes astray before the Broncos return the favour with a Kobe Hetherington error as the mistake rate climbs.

20 min: Reece Walsh kicks early in the count and the balls rolls into touch with no chasers in sight.

17 min: The Knights lose their captain's challenge after a Dane Gagai knock on is called by referee Todd Smith and the bunker backs the call and the challenge is gone.

11 min: The Knights create space on the left courtesy of a superb Bradman Best offload but a try goes begging when Fletcher Hunt sends a poor pass back inside to Dane Gagai who can't handle.

8 min: A penalty against Tyson Frizell for holding down in the play the ball invites the Broncos into the Red Zone again and Gehamat Shibasaki delivers the final pass for Josiah Karapani to score despite James Schiller's efforts to hold him up. Reece Walsh again hits the upright with the conversion. Broncos 8-0.

6 min: Reece Walsh is in the game early with some dazzling footwork and classy passes before Deine Mariner gets over the line and is held up on just the second tackle but a mistake by Pat Carrigan late in the set lets the Knights off the hook.

3 min: The Broncos strike early through Kotoni Staggs after Ben Hunt schemes out of dummy half and gets a one-handed offload away to his centre who can't be stopped. Reece Walsh's conversion hits the upright. Broncos 4-0.

Kick-off: A glorious Sunday afternoon in Newcastle after plenty of wet weather lately so a fast, open game should be on the cards. The Broncos are still in the hunt for the top four provided they can get past the Knights, who would love nothing better than playing spoiler in front of a big home crowd. The Knights will don the socks of the Kotara Bears as part of Telstra Footy Country Round.

Late Mail

Knights: Changes on game day with youngster Connor Votano dropping to 18th man and Dane Gagai taking over at fullback. James Schiller comes into the centres in No.19 and Fletcher Hunt on the wing in No.21 in place of Greg Marzhew, who is nursing a back injury. Hooker Phoenix Crossland is back from a concussion so Jayden Brailey moves to the bench, with Matt Arthur dropping out. Samoan young gun Elijah Salesa leaumoana comes in for his fifth NRL game at the expense of Brodie Jones. 

Broncos: The Broncos are 1-17 with no late changes. Jack Gosiewski has fractured his collarbone and will miss the remainder of the regular season, with Jaiyden Hunt set to start in his place at second row. Jesse Arthars comes on to the bench as a result. Ben Hunt will join Daly Cherry-Evans in the 350-game club on Sunday afternoon. 

Numbers Game

• The Knights have lost nine of their last 10 games at McDonald Jones Stadium.
• The Broncos have won their last five games against the Knights.
• Knights winger Dominic Young has scored five tries in his last four games against the Broncos.
• Broncos halfback Ben Hunt will play his 350th NRL game.
• The Knights have conceded 130 points in their last three games.