How New South Wales stunned Queensland in a Suncorp Stadium boilover
Updated ,first published
It had to end this way. Some will argue that it should never have gotten to this stage.
And yet, despite dominating the opening two games, Queensland were left in shock by the State of Origin furore; New South Wales cruised to a 30-12 victory at Suncorp Stadium despite serious criticism.
It seemed inevitable that the Maroons, who dominated all corners of the match for 23 minutes in the Sydney and Melbourne matches, would ambush the Maroons at home, with a blowtorch turned on Blues coach Laurie Daley after the 44-24 demolition in the second game.
But when it came to the decider, Queensland couldn’t win a single moment and couldn’t keep their mistakes far from the team that finished 95 per cent in the last race.
“We put a lot of pressure on ourselves. Making 14 errors in the State of Origin game puts a lot of pressure on your defense and they were good enough to take advantage of the opportunity and score,” Maroons captain Cameron Munster said.
“I felt like our defensive effort was there, but it took a lot of steam out of us. Unfortunately, we couldn’t progress our football when we had the ball.
“Sometimes being so defensive drains your offensive energy and takes away your pain. We haven’t frozen our moments, and that’s incredibly frustrating, especially in our own home.”
The first six of the contest went the Blues’ way again and changed the momentum. The pressure eventually built as Jack Bostock and Mark Nawaqanitawase stepped in as opportunities arrived (the latter following Reuben Cotter’s ball out of trouble).
Queensland halfback Sam Walker’s early strike attempt went straight down James Tedesco’s throat and Selwyn Cobbo’s failure to clear a Nathan Cleary bomb left the home side reeling again.
Cleary would soon break through from close range, scoring the decider for the second try after a six that put the Blues ahead once again – with Liam Martin’s half-break freeing Stephen Crichton and Nawaqanitawase to create opportunities.
Cobbo’s two mistakes turned out to be more costly.
The first came as he made contact with Queensland clearing space to break free, while the second came as Cleary relaxed for a one-on-one steal. Cameron Murray would score the Blues’ third try from the new set.
The Maroons’ chance of regaining momentum after Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow crossed for his 15th Origin try was also dashed by indiscipline when Briton Nikora’s raised arm over Bostock’s head drew a penalty against the run of play.
The Maroons’ steel-clad defense seemed to disappear. In the first half alone, they missed 30 tackles to the Blues’ 10; It wasn’t until Cleary’s second try that Munster had their most dazzling moment, sliding in front of Martin.
Any first-half acceleration from manager Billy Slater was quickly forgotten as Kurt Capewell’s loose lunge in the opening set of the second half put them under the pump again. While the Maroons’ defense remained solid throughout the two sets, Capewell’s drop put them on the back foot once again.
All this happened while Walker was sidelined for HIA and Reece Walsh joined the fray.
Walsh seemed to have set something in motion; His energy created field position for Cobbo to beat his own deflector. But Walsh’s cross-kick was soon bounced by his team-mates and Bostock avoided touching the ball as Bradman Best ran the length of the pitch.
Jojo Fifita’s corner try gave the Maroons hope, but even Walker’s goal kick, impeccable in the first two games, began to falter as his two misses (with Walsh missing a third) kept the deficit at 12 points.
Even though the Maroons thought they had gone past Robert Toia after the Blues allowed the Walker bomb to land, their bid was rejected as Bunker found Max Plath offside.
That summed up an evening in which nothing seemed to go right as Hudson Young wandered around with the full-time siren blaring to hand Queensland a third successive home defeat.
While all the attention will be on New South Wales heading into the decider, there will be some key moments (avoidable and unavoidable) that will leave Queensland wondering what could have been since the campaign launched in May.
Game one appeared to be going smoothly until Kalyn Ponga was sent off for a contested shoulder charge which overshadowed the outcome of the clash, allowing the Blues to fight back 20-6 down.
The most hardcore Maroons fans will say the series should never have needed a third game to decide the shield holders, but Slater’s decision to lock Trent Loiero over Gehamat Shibasaki has raised questions.
Blues center Kotoni Staggs, who was substituted off for Bradman Best in the third game, created huge momentum for the Blues moving forward, with Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow moving to full-back and Capewell into the backline.
Then a concussion for inspirational prop Lindsay Collins ruled her out of the third game. The talismanic effort games showcased in 17 Origins are greatly missed.
He was never introduced, although Pat Carrigan allowed him to replace him due to a syndesmosis injury for five weeks – Slater opting to inject Jeremiah Nanai for Capewell after Walsh, Loiero and Plath had already been used.
“I thought the injection of Jeremiah and Reece actually added something. It gave us a little bit of a different look and created some opportunities for us,” Slater said.
“But…it doesn’t change the hard feeling you get when you leave two guys on the bench.” [including Murray Taulagi]and they can’t play.
Regardless of the decisions made and mistakes made, this was a situation where one team seemingly wanted it more and the other couldn’t live up to the expectation.
“There is always a lot of pressure in big games. At the end of the day you have to be able to manage that pressure,” Munster said.
Slater added: “I wouldn’t say there was a lack of enthusiasm. We showed a lot of heart and never gave up.”
“We were lucky, but we made it pretty difficult at certain times and that probably hurt us a little bit.”
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