{"id":691738,"date":"2026-05-24T15:47:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T15:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/691738\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T15:47:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T15:47:48","slug":"nrl-news-2026-cowboys-playmaker-jake-clifford-stars-in-win-over-rabbitohs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/691738\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026 | Cowboys playmaker Jake Clifford stars in win over Rabbitohs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jake Clifford has proven he has what it takes to step up for the Cowboys<\/a> in the absence of Tom Dearden, with one league great left in awe of his skill while facing the Rabbitohs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As the clock neared the final seconds in the first half of North Queensland’s 30-18 win on Sunday<\/a>, Clifford looked for an opportunity to punch more points on the scoreboard. <\/p>\n

It was clear a try would be an unrealistic play as the clock counted down, but Clifford was not afraid to take a shot at a two-point field goal.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Maroons star laughs off ‘mind games’ as Munster skips training<\/a><\/p>\n

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Just 10 points separated the two teams at the time, but Clifford’s remarkable strike from 45 metres out flew perfectly between the posts as the half-time siren sounded.<\/p>\n

“What about the power in that kick?” Brad Fittler said in commentary on Nine.<\/p>\n

“That was off one step. He barely moved … What a strike.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jake Clifford kicks a field goal.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

Andrew Johns said that moment could “affect the Bunnies psychologically” leading into the break, but Wayne Bennett’s men did not let that stop them from scoring again.<\/p>\n

Talanoa Penitani – the younger brother of NRLW superstar Tiana – made the most of his debut in the South Sydney jumper, crossing for his second try in the 55th minute.<\/p>\n

The try did not worry the hosts, though, with Helium Luki and Liam Sutton striding over.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2026 NRL season live and free on Nine and 9Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The club’s 30-18 win could have been 36-18 had Tom Chester claimed a double.<\/p>\n

Chester looked set to claim a double in the early minutes of the second half but after powering 60 metres down the field he bombed what had appeared to be a certain try.<\/p>\n

There was no opposition player near Chester for a large portion of his run, with teammates coming up alongside him in support just in case.<\/p>\n

Laybutt had his arms open and was ready to race away with the ball as Dufty came running in to tackle Chester.<\/p>\n

But the Cowboys gun refused to dish off the ball and instead waited until his feet had been swept up by Dufty to release the ball, resulting in a forward pass to Laybutt.<\/p>\n

“Oh no. He has blown it,” Fittler said.<\/p>\n

“How many times do you see outside backs go down field and they cannot find the last pass? It was a simple two-on-one situation,” Cameron Smith added.<\/p>\n

Chester made up for his error later in the half, denying Alex Johnston for the second time in the match from scoring a try in the corner. The league’s all-time leading try-scorer did eventually get the ball down in the 76th minute.<\/p>\n

Penitani’s debut did not end how he would have liked, suffering a hamstring injury while attempting to make a break down the sideline with 30 seconds left on the clock.<\/p>\n

The Rabbitohs also lost Adam Elliott to injury earlier in the second half. Wayne Bennett confirmed post-match that he had suffered a syndesmosis injury.<\/p>\n

\"Adam<\/p>\n

Adam Elliott is assisted off the field by trainers.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

Earlier, a handful of set restarts and some beautiful passing down the line set up Laybutt to snatch the first points in Townsville.<\/p>\n

South Sydney looked to reply via Penitani but his leap over Scott Drinkwater to claim the ball did not go to plan, dropping it cold metres out from the line.<\/p>\n

“What a start that would’ve been to his career,” Fittler said.<\/p>\n

A remarkable 40\/20 kick by Reed Mahoney paved the way for the Cowboys to hunt down their second try and Luki was determined to be the man to score.<\/p>\n

But despite powering over the line and seemingly holding off a tackle attempt by Dufty, the Bunker denied Luki from claiming the four points due to a double movement.<\/p>\n

Johnston made a break down the sideline and found Cody Walker in support, but the playmaker was tackled 20 metres out.<\/p>\n

A quick play of the ball followed by some beautiful passing down the line then found Penitani, who grabbed his first career try.<\/p>\n

“Don’t underestimate him. Look at that athleticism,” Fittler said. <\/p>\n

Mahoney and Chester powered over to bolster the hosts’ lead ahead of the half-time break, but Clifford was not willing to go to the sheds without more points.<\/p>\n

Minutes after the Bunker denied South Sydney a try, Clifford took a shot at a two-point field goal to give his team a 18-6 lead at half-time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jake Clifford has proven he has what it takes to step up for the Cowboys in the absence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-691738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}