Mitch Garbutt was dismissed for this hefty punch
NRL champions North Queensland Cowboys beat Leeds Rhinos, the Super League champions, 38-4 in the World Club Challenge match.
Victory at Leeds' Headingley ground gave the Cowboys the right to call themselves the best club side in world rugby league and completed a 3-0 sweep for Australian sides in this week's World Club Series.
A hard-fought first half ended all square at 4-4 but the Cowboys pulled clear in the second period, scoring 34 unanswered points as an NRL side enjoyed a third convincing win over a Super League team in as many days.
Leeds' defeat was compounded when they were forced to play the last few minutes a man down after Mitch Garbutt was sent off for punching James Tamou. In his first World Club Challenge, Johnathan Thurston orchestrated an ultimately crushing victory and even got a second-half try.
There was nothing to separate the teams at half-time but after the break, the Cowboys ran in six more tries to romp home. It was incredibly tight early on and Leeds had a golden opportunity to open the scoring with three sets of six deep in the Cowboys' territory. The visitors' defence was outstanding, however, as they kept the Rhinos at bay and eventually got the ball back on the sixth tackle.
That appeared to inspire the Cowboys, and at the first defensive error from the hosts, North Queensland pounced. Unsurprisingly, it was Thurston at the heart of the move, delaying his pass to send Michael Morgan over for a simple finish. Thurston could not convert in the strong wind, but the Cowboys led 4-0 after 22 minutes.
Nevertheless, Leeds were putting the Cowboys under pressure, and it was a mistake by Thurston that led to the home side's first score. His wide pass was picked off by Liam Sutcliffe, who raced away and although the Cowboys got back, an offload from Adam Cuthbertson allowed Rob Burrow to dive over.
The teams went in level at 4-4, but North Queensland flew out of the blocks in the second half. A first high kick from the visitors was fumbled by Ash Handley and that offered Kane Linnett the simplest of finishes. Thurston converted this time to make it 10-4 with barely two minutes gone in the second half.
North Queensland soon had another try as a penalty for a late hit on Thurston gave them an extra set of six, and they spread the ball wide for Kyle Feldt, who handed off Ryan Hall in emphatic fashion to finish. The result was beyond doubt just after the hour when Lachlan Coote pounced to touch down Thurston's deflected grubber-kick.
Two minutes later, Thurston scored a try of his own, slipping a tackle and diving over before converting. Leeds's resistance was crumbling and Justin O'Neill was next over, slipping plenty of tackles, before the Rhinos lost Garbutt to a red card for a punch on Tamou, who was himself sin-binned, leaving both sides with 12 men.
The Cowboys had the final word as O'Neill completed a try double with a fine finish.
