As it happened: Classy Cowboys bounce back against Titans

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Full time: The Cowboys have bounced back from last week's record defeat with a 30-8 win on the Titans turf.

78th min: The Cowboys have muscled up in defence all night and they're not about to let in a consolation try, with plenty of back slapping and yahooing after scuppering yet another Titans attacking raid.

74th min: Scott Drinkwater is showing off all his tricks tonight, this time marking a Jayden Campbell 40/20 attempt at speed and brings his cricket fielder skills to throw the ball in the air, step out of bounds, step back in play and gather the ball once again.

70th min: Heilum Luki has a double! After doing a great job to hold out the Titans, the Cowboys quickly get over half way and Scott Drinkwater has the ball with momentum, hands it to Reuben Cotter, wraps around to receive the ball once again and the Cowboys fullback fools the defence with a no-look pass to Luki, who fends of Keano Kini on his way to the line. Drinkwater converts once again. Cowboys 30-8.

66th min: The Cowboys take the seven tackle set right down the other end and Reuben Cotter crosses the stripe. After the try is awarded, the Bunker finds Griffin Neame was in front of Cotter, who received a pass from Scott Drinkwater to send him on his way, and keeping a Titans defender from attempting a tackle. 

63rd min: A crazy couple of minutes at Cbus! The Cowboys are within sight of the line and Soni Luke puts a kick through, which Braidon Burns bats back in field before it goes into touch. The Titans pick up the ball and it finds speedster Jaylan De Groot, who races down field in the other direction and the home side is now on the attack. The ending is not what they wanted as Oliver Pascoe kicks dead.

60th min: The fresh legs do the trick for the Cowboys! Jaxon Purdue turns on his jets a few minutes after returning to the field, picking the ball up from dummy half on his own 30m line and slicing in behind the ruck, stepping Keano Kini and escaping the clutches of Jaylan De Groot on his way to scoring under the posts. Scott Drinkwater converts. Cowboys 24-8.

58th min: Jaxon Purdue returns to the field to get the Cowboys back on level terms for personnel.

Crowd: 11,740

54th min: The Titans power their way down the field with some quick feet through the middle and get a quick play the ball on last tackle inside 10m, but the run option which has AJ Brimson finding Josh Patston short ends in a handover.

51st min: The Titans don't throw too much at the Cowboys on the following set, so the Cowboys just put their heads down complete their set before Jake Clifford steers a grubber over the sideline to give his side a breather.

49th min: Phil Sami has a double! The Titans immediately make the most of a one man advantage, with Jayden Campbell directing the ball to the left side through Keano Kini, who throws a sweet cutout pass to his winger to score. It's not making an easy task of it for Campbell, who missed the conversion to the near side. Cowboys lead 18-8.

47th min: How the sands have shifted here at Cbus Super Stadium. Jaxon Purdue is off to the sin bin for a professional foul after hanging on the tackle too long after Jojo Fifita and AJ Brimson team up for a long break down the right side.

46th min: The Cowboys are making plenty of metres through the middle of the Titans and some great kicks on last pin the Titans on their own line to work it out.

42nd min: The Titans get the first opportunity to go deep on attack after the Cowboys give away a penalty in the play the ball their own side of half way. A Jayden Campbell kick creates a contest in goal on last tackle between Braidon Burns and Phil Sami. The Bunker rules the ball went forward off the Titans and the it comes out for a seven tackle set for the Cowboys. 

Half-time: The Cowboys take an 18-4 lead in half-time at Cbus Super Stadium after a solid all-round opening stanza. The Titans missed the jump early on and the visitors took full advantage with two soft tries in the opening 11 minutes. The home side eventually worked their way into the contest and heaped the pressure on the Cowboys, who remained stout in a much-improved defensive effort compared to last week. The Titans' good work was soured by schoolboy errors at the back end of the half, allowing a late try to leave a mountain to climb in the second half.

39th min: You can't stop Heilum Luki! The Titans have released the pressure valve after some unforgivable errors and it gives the Cowboys another chance to attack the line. Jaxon Purdue hands it to Luki down the right edge and he runs straight at Jaylan De Groot, sending him straight to ground, and carries three more defenders over the line to score. Scott Drinkwater is on song with the boot and slots the conversion from close to the sideline. Cowboys 18-4. 

36th min: The Cowboys finally get some possession in their favour and camp on the Titans try line. Coen Hess has brought some energy off the bench for the visitors and goes on a bullocking run and gets an arm free, but his offload is intercepted by Jaylan De Groot.

32nd min: The Titans get another repeat set to go into the attacking half but they come undone when Jayden Campbell floats a pass over to where he thought Phil Sami would be, but the tryscorer still isn't 100% and the ball goes over the sideline.

29th min: The pressure builds on the Cowboys and the Titans finally crack them! Phil Sami is the beneficiary as Jayden Campbell finds Jaylan De Groot running a good line on an out ball and offloading one-handed at speed to his winger to score. Sami takes a while to get to his feet after scoring - he's got heavy strapping on his left knee. Campbell's conversion attempt sails wide. Cowboys lead 12-4.

26th min: The two teams have been trading sets and set restarts for some end to end footy, but the to and fro comes to an end when Zac Laybutt's offload attempt gets caught in his hands. Titans halfback AJ Brimson goes awfully close to crashing over in the following set, but the Cowboys turn them away again.

22nd min: Reuben Cotter gets over for the Cowboys after a flick pass offload from Jake Clifford after marking an attacking kick, but it is called forward and Cotter is ultimately deemed offside.

18th min: A try to the Titans goes begging! After a penalty and some repeat sets, the home side is looking likely and on last tackle, AJ Brimson puts a grubber through off his shin and Dean Ieremia has a chance to dive and ground the ball, but knocks on.

12th min: Jake Clifford scores the easiest of tries to extend the lead. On the back of a quick play-the-ball from Heilum Luki, Jaxon Purdue runs out of dummy half and hands it off to Clifford, who goes through just about untouched. Scott Drinkwater converts. Cowboys 12-0.

8th min: The Titans get an opportunity to hit back immediately after the Cowboys tryscorer made an error hitting it up off the restart, but the home side puts together a disjointed set and can't get a kick away on last tackle. 

6th min: Jason Taumalolo is over! The big man runs against the grain and picks up a pass from Soni Luke, easily finding his way between two defenders to crash over. Scott Drinkwater converts the try from 10m in from touch. Cowboys 6-0.

4th min: Scott Drinkwater has turned the tide with a 40/20 to put the Cowboys right on attack.

3rd min: The Titans get the first look at opposition half after a set restart and the ball goes to Keano Kini on last tackle, but his offload to a teammate is called forward.

Kickoff: The Cowboys receive the ball first to kick off Indigenous Round.

Late Mail

Titans: Mass changes to the Titans in the 90-minute squad update. Lachlan Ilias has been shifted back to the bench, with AJ Brimson moving into the halfback position vacated after Zane Harrison's season ending hamstring strain. Jaylan De Groot comes in at centre from Brimson. Sam Verrills starts the game at hooker with Oliver Pascoe reverting to the pine. Arama Hau has also been demoted to the bench in favour of Josh Patston. Winger Phil Sami has scored eight tries in his last nine games.

Cowboys: No late changes for the Cowboys, with John Bateman recovering from a hamstring injury to take his place on the interchange bench. Prop Griffin Neame returns from suspension but hooker Reed Mahoney will be given another week off after suffering a concussion in Round 21, his second of the season. Kai O'Donnell comes in for Jeremiah Nanai (hamstring). The Cowboys have won seven of their last nine games against the Titans.