State of Origin: Gutsy Maroons stun Blues to take out series

The State of Origin Shield is headed back north of the border after the Maroons came away with a stunning 22-12 victory over the Blues in last night’s decider at Suncorp.

New South Wales fans were left with an all-too-familiar sinking feeling in their stomachs as the Blues suffered through a second-half capitulation in front of 52,385 rabid fans in Brisbane.

Queensland fullback Kalyn Ponga was awarded Man of the Match in one of the most action-packed clashes in recent memory, whilst Origin rookie Patty Carrigan took home Man of the Series honours.

The game kicked off in unprecedented fashion with Cameron Murray, Selwyn Cobbo, and Lindsay Collins all suffering match-ending head knocks in a barbaric opening four minutes of the encounter.

Small-scale push-and-shoves resulted following the head knocks to Murray and Cobbo after words were exchanged between the sides.

Tino Fa’asuamaleaui was placed on report moments later after collecting Matt Burton with lazy arm around the chops, before Valentine Holmes crossed for the 11th try of his Origin career in the 12th minute of the game off some sharp ball-playing from debutant five-eighth Tom Dearden as Queensland drew first blood.

[adrotate group=”9″]

The Blues responded shortly after with Jarome Luai pouncing on a neat grubber from halves partner Nathan Cleary to level the scores, before debutant front-rower Jacob Saifiti made an immediate impact for the Blues, coming up with a barn-storming effort behind the ruck to cross in the 32nd minute and put NSW ahead.

The Maroons then took full advantage of a Daniel Tupou error on the stroke of halftime with Harry Grant pirouetting and showing off some deft touch of his own as fill-in centre Kurt Capewell dove on a grubber to cut the lead to two.

Matt Burton and Dane Gagai were both binned in the opening set of the second-half after the two threw haymakers at one another and prompted an all-in brawl.

The remainder of the game saw the Blues find different ways to make bone-headed errors as Queensland grinded their way to a hard-fought victory; Angus Crichton and Saifiti made simple errors on the attack, Junior Paulo fumbled a ball cold coming off his own line, and Luai through a cut-out ball into touch.

Ben Hunt came up with a big 40/20 before a Stephen Crichton offload found the grass coming off his own line in what could only be described as an all-time brain-fade.

Ponga sliced through Talakai and Luai the following set to give Queensland a 16-12 lead.

With close to a quarter of the match still remaining, the Blues had time to pull off a comeback of their own, however, they predictably did not go close.

Liam Martin made a mistake before Siosifa Talakai gave away a penalty for an incorrect play-the-ball and followed it up with a second-tackle drop inside his own 10,

The game ended with Hunt plucking off a Cleary chip like a slips fieldsman to race 70 metres downfield and put a cherry on top of a famous Queensland victory.

[adrotate group=”9″]

Carrigan became the first non-hooking Queensland forward to win the Wally Lewis Medal since Corey Parker in 2015 as the Maroons secured their second series win in three years.

The 24-year-old averaged 17 carries for nearly 140 metres across the series to go along with over 41 tackles in a stupendous effort for an Origin rookie.

Ponga was the best player on the field, scoring a decisive try, making three line breaks, breaking an absurd 16 tackles and running for a team-high 262 metres.

Hunt, meanwhile, scored a match-sealing try, ran for 138 metres, made 37 tackles and kicked a 40/20, whilst skipper Daly Cherry-Evans assisted on a try, made 21 tackles, and came up with 19 kicks for 642 metres.

James Tedesco was NSW’s best, running for a game-high 292 metres from 30 runs, whilst debutant Saifiti offered some spark off the bench scoring a try, running for 135 metres, and making 24 tackles in 36 minutes off the bench.

Questions surrounding Brad Fittler’s coaching credentials will not go away; despite the Blues entering each of the 15 matches he has coached as betting favourites, they have won just eight of them.

Billy Slater’s place in Maroons folklore, on the other hand, seems as rock solid as ever with the rookie coach putting together a superb display in trying circumstances.

Fill In The Form To Get Our NRL News Straight To Your Email For FREE!

• First Name*
• Last Name*
• Email*
• Name
  This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ