The New South Wales Blues have evened up the 2020 State of Origin series with a thumping 32-10 win, crushing the Queensland Maroons to go into next week’s decider as favourites.
A coming-of-age performance from Nathan Cleary was the catalyst and was complemented by a great game out of five-eighth by Cody Walker. Vastly improved performances from Game 1’s maligned centres pairing also helped, while the Maroons sorely missed the prodigal kicking of Cameron Munster – who left the game early with concussion.
The incident that led to his concussion was controversial, with Munster heading off for head injury assessment – which he would later fail – after his head hit the turf very hard from what looked to be a clear midair tackle by Tyson Frizell that went unpunished by referee Gerard Sutton.
But the Maroons were undeterred and started the game the better of the two sides, threatening the Blues line early. Josh Papalii lost the ball going close early in the piece, but Xavier Coates crossed in the seventh minute with a spectacular dive to the corner – avoiding the corner post by a coat of paint.
The Blues were frustrated early, giving away a fair few penalties inside the first 15 minutes to gift the Maroons territory and extra sets – but they turned it around before the 20-minute mark to take the lead.
Nathan Cleary got the Blues close to the line with a great line break, before a superb spin move by Cody Walker saw him bust through the remaining defence to score. Cleary had no issues with the conversion to put NSW up. The Blues then put their foot on the pedal, with James Tedesco breezing through some ordinary Queensland defence to help make it 12-4.
The Blues spent most of the rest of the half in Queensland’s half of the ground, threatening to score – thanks to a blistering first half by Cleary. They broke through late, with a Coates knock-on gifting the Blues another set close to the line and they cashed in – Josh Addo-Carr stepped around Phillip Sami and Ben Hunt on the right edge to cross for NSW’s third.
Munster’s succumbing to a concussion wasn’t the only injury concern in the first half, with Tyson Frizell also coming off for a head injury assessment – but he would pass his.
Any worries Brad Fittler had of a collapse akin to the second half of Game 1 were assuaged early, with Jack Wighton muscling his way past several Maroons defenders in the left corner to cross for a fourth NSW try.
Cleary’s kicking game continued to wreak havoc with Queensland, who were sorely missing the output they relied on from Munster in Game 1. The Blues could seemingly do no wrong, planting the flag deep in Queensland territory, keeping the sets rolling and the ball alive to give their opponents no hope of mounting a comeback.
Again, a Maroons knock on deep in defence gifted the Blues a scrum in prime territory, and they were caught with three defenders on four attackers for the second time – allowing Daniel Tupou to cross with ease in the corner off the first play.
Tempers flared close to the hour mark, with seeing Payne Haas and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui sin binned after both teams ignored Sutton’s pleas to back off from the biff. It took a while for the fracas to spark Queensland, but they were the next to score after Josh Papalii put bowled Damien Cook over to score after receiving a short pass from Daly Cherry-Evans.
But their hopes of a comeback soon evaporated after a massive blunder by Phillip Sami. Cody Walker sent an excellent grubber off the outside of the boot to the corner, but Sami stood passively and tried to let it bounce into touch, allowing Addo-Carr to pounce and put the result beyond doubt.
The sting went out of the game from there, with the Blues controlling the pace of the game and cruising to a big Game 2 win that swings the pendulum back in their favour ahead of next week’s decider.
NSW Blues – 34
Queensland Maroons – 10
Tries
Blues: Walker (16′), Tedesco (22′), Addo-Carr (39′, 66′), Wighton (42′), Tupou (53′)
Maroons: Coates (7′), Papalii (63′)
Goals
Blues: Cleary 5/7 (18′, 23′, 39′, 44′, 79′)
Maroons: Holmes 1/2 (64′)
William W
Roar Rookie
Barry, You need to stop dwelling on the past mate. My Rabbitohs are a Powerhouse since Rusty took over so you are like a jealous spoilt schoolboy. What happened 30 years ago is now irrelevant. What happens in 2021 is! You talk about 6 Premierships, big deal... I follow a club who have won 21 and may add to that this year while your mob fight to get out of the cellar. Go ahead keep insulting me as I have been writing the facts, even though you can't handle it. Your Dogs are a pathetic and corrupt organisation. Many of those Salary Cap cheats you have at your club are still there plotting around in the background. Go and ask Graeme Hughes what he thinks of the corruption there. He handed in his life membership for fark sake. Something definitely smells down Belmore way!
The Barry
Roar Guru
You’re the one with no idea - you were calling me a hater not the other way around. You can’t follow a simple conversation. As I said you’re a mental midget Unlike you I’ve followed rugby league for longer than just the last 20 games. If there was a team I hated because of how many times they “smashed” the Bulldogs it definitely wouldn’t be Souths For most of my time following league Souths have been a laughing stock. I’ve seen the Bulldogs win six premierships. In that time Souths have won one If you ever wonder why fans of other clubs “hate” Souths - have a look in the mirror. You’re the stereotypical one-eyed, single brain-celled mouth breather that give the club a bad name Don’t waste my time...
William W
Roar Rookie
The last 20 games between the Rabbitohs and the Dogs since 2012. Rabbitohs 12 including a Premiership. Dogs 8
William W
Roar Rookie
YEP, the Dogs beat my Rabbitohs in Rd 19 this season, good on them, but don't you know Barry it was a fantastic plan hatched by Wayne Bennett to... First of all... guarantee the Broncos and Seibold will get the wooded spoon and... Secondly... to give the scum Rorters a false sense of security as we marched out in Round 20 and smashed them 60 to 8. Rabbitohs finished as a Preliminary Finalist whilst your Flogs finished 15th thanks to the Master Coach! Losing that Rd 19th game to the Dogs didn't hurt us one iota!
William W
Roar Rookie
BARRY... You have No farkin idea at all... The reason I "HATE" on all other clubs was due to the way the Rabbitohs were treated in 1999 with not one club lifting a finger to go against that pathetic Limited News Organisation. Not one club gave a FARK about my club, so stuff you all. Souths and Canterbury have played in 2 Grand Finals with the Rabbitohs winning both times in 1967 and 2014. The BullCRAPS can win the next 20 games in a row, I couldn't give a stuff as we both know that will NEVER EVER make up for those 2 Premierships Victories! Especially the 2014 humiliation we caused you.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Bulldogs have played Souths 176 times. Won 89, lost 81, drawn 6
The Barry
Roar Guru
16 year old girls and mental midgets carry on about people “hating” I’ve accused by numb nuts like you of “hating” pretty much every team in the comp because you can’t handle anyone criticising your team “Smashed so many times by us” I’ve followed footy since the late 70s... the scoreboard would be well and truly in the Bulldogs favour in that time Souths barely won a game for the best part of 20 years The Dogs won the last game between the two teams as well...
William W
Roar Rookie
Alright, Beath you has-been nobody. You hate Souths and Rabbitohs fans as you were smashed so many times by us!
The Barry
Roar Guru
Haha...I only asked that about Walker because I knew you’d carry on like a sook... you haven’t disappointed I haven’t singled Walker out anywhere. My original comment here was that Cleary had a great game in Game 2. Big Mig said he’d add Walker to the list of great players and I said “yeah” You’ve somehow read that as me singling out Walker?!?! Haha...you’re the problem mate. You can’t see an objective criticism without over reacting. That wasn’t even a criticism of Walker or Souths and you’re carrying on like a good sort Anyway, try this Walker has now played four Origins. He’s had one good game and three shockers. NSW has won one of the four games he’s played I’m sure you’ll come at me with how it’s all because Cleary hogged it or Fittler didn’t design the right game plan or the hooker didn’t give him the ball... oh no, wait it can’t be that one I think you’re the one with glasses on. One green lens and one red lens...
William W
Roar Rookie
How did the rest of the players go in Game 3? Rubbish, so why single out just one player, a Rabbitoh? Everyone on this site knows you hate Souths. Cleary Farken hogged the ball, both sides of the ruck, watch it again and clean your glasses. Walker was overlooked and starved of the ball.
The Barry
Roar Guru
I never made either of those predictions champ... i said Souths wouldn’t make the top 8. I got it wrong. Did you get all your pre season tips right? Never once said the Dogs would make the top 4/8...the only call I made on them all year was I hoped they didn’t get the spoon If you want to argue against anything I’ve written, go for it. But it’s pretty fukn lame when you have to invent things I’ve said How did Walker go in Game 3...?
William W
Roar Rookie
How was your prediction that the Rabbitohs will be bottom 4 and your Flogs to make the top 4/8?
Rob
Guest
Jimmmy why couldn’t Hunt simply do what Munster did? Just because he’s right footed and normal plays the same side as DCE most of his career doesn’t mean he couldn’t play the other side of the field. What was Hunt picked for anyway if it wasn’t as a backup for a half? Queensland really needed to stop the NSW forwards they just seemed to role down the field from plays 1 and 2. What happened to Gagai? He looked gassed most of the second half and Coats eyes were spinning in his head for some reason you would swear he had concussions and no confidence when getting into contact. Lots of issues Jimmmy. Reminded me a bit like JT when Coote LEFT and then Morgan were out the bloody forwards went on holiday’s and just refused to get on top.
Rob
Guest
Nat. The officials saw it and made a decision. Sometimes they miss things. It was a split second thing to not wrap the arm. It’s Origin and rules are somewhat relaxed especially with aggressive tackles. Name a player that has missed Origin for a shoulder charge like that. The loss of Cleary will not effect the Blues anyway it was the forwards that won it they dominated field position. His kicking game and kick chase is easily substituted. No recognised kicker? Since when is that going to be the difference between these 2 sides? Queensland won game 1 with no recognised goal kicker. They went away from what they did in game 1 and rarely had NSW In their own end. Queensland were out played in every position man for man I can’t see that changing in a week. Tedesco was toying with Queensland and big Topou was making over 200m on kick returns with JAC finishing them off in the other corner. Queensland were totally dominated across the park, wingers were rattled and confused making silly errors. NSW were fresher to the point where they looked to have more players out there. Come on mate you’re knowledge of the game would tell you that, that’s Origin and that’s football.
Big Mig
Roar Rookie
Reynolds/Walker and Cleary/Luai have been the best 2 in-form halve partnerships in 2020. Brilliant. Reynolds and Cleary are similar in play, and Walker and Luai uncanningly similar too. So the Cleary-Walker combination is very similar to a Cleary-Luai or Walker - Reynolds style of play, that was evident in SOO 2. Without Keary, Cleary and Walker played their natural games, and played well together. This was a good move by Fittler. I'd argue that if Walker didn't play in SOO2, Cleary would not have been MOM. Both players deserved a 9/10 rating. Walker was equally a deserving MOM in my view, playing left and right and putting the Maroons defence in all sorts of trouble. He scored that all important first try for the Blues at a time when the Maroons where on top. He kicked well and tackled well. Walker was involved in almost all the Blues tries and set up the deft grubber for JAC to score.
HENRIK
Guest
Gutherson was a liability again, Capewell again made him look very ordinary in defense, and he offers nothing in attack playing in the centres.
Ray Paks
Roar Rookie
Yeah what happened last night was bound to happen at some stage. In all honesty, this series should be over by now NSW taking it out. Suncorp will be interesting but I am predicting another big BLUE victory up there. If NSW play anywhere near they did last night, qld won’t have a chance, and they will be lifting their game in game 3. Cleary owned it last night, and the forwards ran amok for 78 minutes and the backline, you don’t need to give them much for them to start cutting you to bits. Great performance from NSW!
Gun Dog
Roar Rookie
Agree..forwards were very good..outplayed the Queenslanders and laid the platform for a comprehensive victory..Queensland were never in the game Well and truly beaten next game should be a beauty..looking forward to it...
Nat
Roar Rookie
At the very least Cleary has bought himself the role for next year. I say that because he may have an issue with the shoulder charge for G3. While there's not much in it, it'll be hard to defend if it gets looked at.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Wow Walker was good. He had one very smart try when there was nothing on and one try assist from a nice kick that should have well and truly been covered by Sami The NSW forwards and wingers got NSW in position. Cleary and Tedesco were the class that won them the game and Walker was the icing on top Walker didn’t get a repeat set. Cleary got two. Cleary ran for 115 metres, Walker 48. One line break each. LBAs Cleary 1 Walker 0. Tackle breaks Cleary 3 Walker 2. Tries Walker 1 Cleary 0. TAs Walker 1 Cleary 0. Tackles Cleary 24 Walker 16. Kick metres Cleary 475 Walker 166. 40/20s Cleary 1 Walker 0. MOM Cleary 1 Walker 0 I don’t want to sound like I’m knocking Walker he had a very good game and he’s a lock for Game 3 but Cleary was next level