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Queensland have recorded a 12-10 win over New South Wales in State of Origin III, extending their series winning streak to eight.
In front of 83,813 spectators, New South Wales had the opportunity to make the perfect start when Greg Inglis was penalised for a high shot on a slipping James Maloney.
A knock-on by Blues halfback Mitchell Pearce ended that opportunity, and Queensland drove down the field to force a New South Wales line drop-out from the ensuing set of six.
Queensland struck first through Johnathan Thurston, who took advantage of some careless NSW defence as they scrambled to cover Thurston’s options out wide.
But they failed to pick up the Queensland five-eighth, and he snuck through attempted tackles from James Tamou and Robbie Farah to virtually crawl over the tryline.
Video referee Bernard Sutton was called upon to rule on a possible obstruction but he could find none and when Thurston converted from directly in front it was 6-0 after 10 minutes.
Two mintues later Maloney was penalised for a shoulder charge on Cooper Cronk as he kicked, and Thurston converted a straight-forward penalty to make it 8-0 in the 13th minute.
New South Wales responded well from the early setback and through a number of penalties set up field position deep inside the Queensland half, only to see a number of opportunities slip through errant handling.
But the momentum had shifted and when the home side were awarded successive penalties inside the Queensland 10m line they were able to cross through James McManus, who showed strength to power over and put the ball down in the corner.
Maloney couldn’t convert from just inside the right-hand touchline, and Queensland’s lead had been cut to 8-4 after 28 minutes.
The Blues had started sluggishly but by the half-hour mark were well and truly on top, and finished the half having 17 of the last 25 sets of six.
With five minutes left in the half New South Wales thought they’d brought scores level when Josh Morris put the ball down after Darius Boyd appeared to have fumbled a Robbie Farah grubber-kick.
Referee Shayne Hayne referred the try to the video referee and Sutton correctly ruled that Boyd had forced downward pressure on the ball and disallowed the try.
#Origin #QLDER Darius to the rescue! pic.twitter.com/3hNy8T0Fmv
— Queensland Maroons (@Qld_Maroon) July 17, 2013
More sloppy handling ended New South Wales’ last attack of the half, again deep inside Queensland territory off a penalty – part of a 6-2 first-half penalty count in the Blues favour – and the Maroons took an 8-4 lead into half-time.
New South Wales continued to stretch the Queensland defence early in the second half with Michael Jennings going close in the 50th minute, prevented only by dogged Maroons defence, this time in the form of Justin Hodges.
It was classic, unrelenting, end-to-end Origin football with both teams having half-chances by spreading the ball out, only to see opposition defences quickly scramble and shut down the break.
But when Greg Bird was penalised on the back of a Michael Jennings turnover in the 60th minute, Queensland showed the class that has won seven successive series, with Cooper Cronk laying on a short pass that allowed Justin Hodges to crash over from close range.
Thurston couldn’t add the extra two with his conversion attempt, but Queensland went into the final 20 minutes of the contest with a 12-4 lead, a considerable margin in the context of what had been a tight Origin decider.
New South Wales were able to wrest back some sort of momentum through their forwards, but with the Blues’ halves combination of Pearce and Maloney lacking in creativity close to the tryline, it seemed Queensland would hold their eight-point lead.
That was until the 71st minute, when the Blues were awarded six again from a charged-down Pearce kick, and after initially going out wide New South Wales straightened up and Trent Merrin drove through the Queensland defence to dive in under the posts.
Maloney booted the conversion from in front and Queensland held a slender 12-10 lead with just under ten minutes remaining of Origin III.
Queensland appeared to have sealed the game in the 78th minute when Matt Scott crossed just right of the posts, but the try was disallowed in the most bizarre of circumstances.
A streaker had run onto the ground only metres out from the New South Wales tryline, and lay prone on the ground as Scott scored, and the video referee Sutton confirmed the no try and ruled a Queensland scrum.
New South Wales had one final hail-mary attempt with a turnover inside their own 20m line with 45 seconds remaining, but Farah’s kick to McManus on the right wing couldn’t be re-gathered, spilling over the sideline and sparking Queensland celebrations.
One final scrum was packed before the siren sounded, the 12-10 final score condemning New South Wales to eight straight series losses and leaving the Maroons to claim a record eighth consecutive series.
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