Harry Grant’s superb State of Origin debut – combined with another Cameron Munster masterclass – has powered Queensland to a stunning 20-14 Game 3 win and a 2-1 State of Origin series win.
Given no chance by media ahead of the series, the series win will go down as one of the greatest in Maroons history.
A penalty against Angus Crichton proved to be the fire-starter early for the Maroons, as they used the territory gain to score the game’s first try. They dared to play for it on the last tackle, forcing it out wide for Origin specialist Valentine Holmes to dive over in the corner.
But fortune flipped on its head soon after, with the Maroons making an absolute meal of a poor Nathan Cleary kick to gift the Blues an equaliser. The Penrith halfback’s kick was too far deep into the in-goal area, but new fullback Corey Allan fumbled it in midair, before an offside Daly Cherry-Evans avoiding picking the ball up, allowing James Tedesco to sneak in and ground the ball right under Cherry-Evans’ nose.
It threatened to unravel for Queensland from there, with Cameron Munster’s ensuing kick-off sailing emphatically out of bounds. The Maroons defended stoutly and then managed to get three consecutive sets close to the NSW try line, but then gave away a penalty as soon as the Blues got possession back.
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Controversy struck at the 20-minute mark, with James Tedesco coming off for a Head Injury Assessment – which he would later fail – after copping an accidental knee to the head from Josh Papalii – but it was Jai Arrow’s carry-on while Tedesco was clearly injured that earned him widespread scorn.
From there, the Maroons dominated territory, virtually parking the bus inside NSW territory – but they weren’t able to convert it on the scoreboard. Nathan Cleary gave the Blues a chance late with one of the all-time 40/20 kicks, but they too couldn’t convert.
Valentine Holmes had a chance to cross for his second in the 35th minute, but Allan’s pass to the wing was slightly behind him and his juggle allowed Josh Addo-Carr to catch-up and force him into touch.
But the Maroons would get their second just before the break. A sublime sequence from Cam Munster, who kicked, regathered his own kick and then kicked again, forced Daniel Tupou into an error on his own try line. Munster then kicked across field to two wide-open teammates, with Edrick Lee gathering after an initial bounce back and getting past the two Blues defenders far too easily.
The Maroons came out on fire in the second half, with debutant Harry Grant proving nigh impossible for the Blues to handle. He almost set Holmes up for two more tries inside the first five minutes, but the first kick came off his knee before going dead, while the second one was knocked-on while diving for the line.
The early part of the second half was all Queensland. The home side generated set after set after set in offensive territory, but stout Blues defence kept them away. Eventually, the Maroons had to settle for two after an offside penalty close to the hour mark.
The Blues simply couldn’t get their hands on the ball and, on the rare occasions they did, they simply couldn’t do anything meaningful with it. Finally, the Maroons broke through again – with Grant capping off his superb debut with a somewhat controversial try to put the game just about out of reach.
But New South Wales wouldn’t go away. They advanced from the short kick-off quickly thanks to two undisciplined Queensland penalties, before Daniel Tupou crossed in the corner to give the visitors a pulse.
The Maroons had the chance to ice it a few minutes later, but Holmes fumbled Allan’s perfect pass on the try line to give the the Blues life. The visitors continued to climb out of the grave a few minutes later, taking the penalty goal after an error-filled sequence that saw several knock-ons.
The Blues looked to pile the pressure on in the shadows of half time – and they got past halfway thanks to a good run by makeshift centre Isaah Yeo – but Nathan Cleary fumbled it on the fifth tackle. From the scrum, the NSW gave away another penalty and lost Cody Walker to concussion on the same play – ending their resistance for good.
Or so we thought. A great kick from Yeo set up Addo-Carr, who was then fouled by Allan trying to chase down his subsequent second kick. That saw the fullback sent to the bin and forced Queensland to defend their line a man down. The Maroons then gave away six more on the fifth, but Cleary tried to catch them napping with a kick on third that Dane Gagai swallowed up.
There was some confusion at the end, with a Junior Paulo knock-on at the death being successfully challenged by the Blues – but it was all moot as time had expired anyway.
The result continues Queensland’s dominant record in Origin deciders – improving their record to 14-5 in Game 3 when the series is up for grabs. New South Wales haven’t won a decider at Suncorp Stadium since 2005.
Full time
Queensland Maroons – 20
NSW Blues – 14
Tries
Maroons: Holmes (4′), E. Lee (37′), Grant (62′)
Blues: Tedesco (9′), Tupou (65′)
Goals
Maroons: Holmes 4/4 (6′, 39′, 58′, 63′)
Blues: Cleary 3/3 (10′, 66′, 72′)
Andy F
Roar Rookie
Union is balance of probabilities and league is more beyond a reasonable doubt (although that is being eroded). I’ve seen a few unionesque decisions in league over the last 2 years and I think that’s where the problem lies .... consistency.
elvis
Roar Rookie
He'd better be a better tackler than the Axe and have have a heart bigger than Phar Lap, because his passing was appalling. High, behind, slow. The halves constantly had to stop to receive the ball. Maybe that was Munster's secret recipe, he loves a halted defence and a terrible pass tends to stop the defence as they wait to see what happens.
elvis
Roar Rookie
But look back in 10 years and see if they stayed bench players...
elvis
Roar Rookie
The 95 backline had 5 premiership winning players plus Adrian Lam, Matt Sing and Mark Coyne who played in losing grand finals. People keep talking about them as though they were picked from park football, it's nowhere near true.
elvis
Roar Rookie
Look back at 95 Qld team, it's actually quite a good team. Just that most hadn't made their name yet or were behind a better SL player. Shearer, Ikin, O'Davis, Matty Sing, Brett Dallas, Adrian Lam, Mark Coyne, Jason Smith, Danny Moore. That's hardly the world's worst backline, lots of premiership winners and long career first graders in that. The forwards aren't much different.
elvis
Roar Rookie
JAC might be fastest over 100m but how far do you think he is going to outrun Munster over 10? He might not even be faster than Munster over 10m. How do you think Munster makes all his breaks... explosive speed over short distances.
elvis
Roar Rookie
"if there have been previous mistakes by officials,.... that does not compel them to make another error." That's the best quote I have read all year.
elvis
Roar Rookie
JAC shouldn't have dived when he got bumped, he chose to make contact instead of trying to avoid it. Just like DCE waving his hands for contact on the catcher in the first half and looking like an idiot when Teddy grounded the ball. Players playing for a penalty and whinging to the ref instead of playing the whistle. It's so ingrained into them they can't even break the habit in massive games.
elvis
Roar Rookie
JAC shouldn't have dived when he got bumped, he chose to make contact instead of trying to avoid it. Just like DCE waving his hands for contact on the catcher in the first half and looking like an idiot when Teddy grounded the ball. Players playing for a penalty and whinging to the ref instead of playing the whistle. It's so ingrained into them they can't even break the habit in massive games.
elvis
Roar Rookie
Brad Fittler had one over-rule of the ref per origin game.
elvis
Roar Rookie
NSW keep losing because they keep dropping decent halves before they have any chance to build a combination. DCE would have been dead meat long ago if he played for NSW. There is a difference between being found wanting at origin level and just being not as good as your opposite. Half the team is not as good as their opposite number on average... NSW only lost by a whisker, despite being smashed all night. That doesn't show a lack of character to me.
elvis
Roar Rookie
That's an eight point try. League requires a try would almost definitely have been scored. Union just that there was a try scoring opportunity (I don't know the exact rule). If that had been awarded a PT in union no-one would have batted an eyelid, but in league the bar is far higher.
mushi
Roar Guru
:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:
Flexis
Roar Rookie
“Not even comparable”. It’s literally the same rule, and the result was the opposite of your argument.
damo
Roar Rookie
I am happy to be corrected but I thought a penalty try required the foul play to occur in the act of scoring? JAC probably would have been first to the ball but he wasn't in the act of scoring.
ken gargett
Guest
“precedents set by judges – that is the law”. Actually, that is part of the law. The govt/administration passes the laws/rules. Not judges. The judges/refs can then interpret those laws/rules. They cannot change those laws/rules. So if past referees have made errors, that does not entitle those who follow to do so. The ref/bunker had to decide if the player “would” have scored. They correctly decided it was not certain. End of story. But you want precedent. How many penalty tries have you seen awarded from ten metres out? Very, very few. Not saying it does not happen but it is surely very rare. It is much more common for them to rule against the penalty try in those circumstances because of the difficulty in being certain that a try would have been scored. So precedent is against you. “by all the referees previously”. Are you seriously suggesting all previous referees would have awarded that as a penalty try? If so, you are kidding yourself. You said the Munster one wasn’t even close to being the same. Sure, every single one is different. It is why we have refs to make rulings. But Frizzell changed direction to impede Munster. Allen changed direction to impede JAC. One does not even get a penalty. The other gets a penalty and a sin bin. And you still bleat and whinge. Perhaps attempting to retain a shred of dignity and accepting the loss might have been a road many would have chosen, but not you. “I see you are a letter of the law type of person, even though there is no such thing”. So you dump a label on me and then tell us that the label you concocted doesn’t exist. It is not really the sanest of arguments. You then claim that my “warped interpretation of the rules” would never allow for a penalty try. Utter and complete nonsense. Keep tossing around such total concoctions and falsehoods and pretty soon you can run for President of the US. Putting aside your sour grapes, if you want evidence that the correct decision was made, look at the conflicting views of the commentators, the fans, the many posts here on the Roar. Plenty insist it was, plenty are convinced it was not. Granted a degree of bias likely but even so, given the huge number of conflicting views, it is a bit hard for one person, be it ref or bunker, to say definitively that he “would” have scored. It was the correct decision and you can whinge right through to the next series. Won’t change it. Always nice to see the officials get something right, especially the important stuff in a big game.
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
ha ha
Rob
Guest
Capewell defensively was fantastic at times throughout the series. He moved up hard and dropped into cover like a pro when needed. He was all heart. To see Hass getting turned and run backwards was a classic big bloke that has grown up bashing up smaller opponents his whole life. He was running into some smaller men who have had to work harder on their skill and have genuinely loved playing football since kids winning or losing.
Long280
Roar Rookie
I think the lack of courage to make descions by the Ref and the Bunker official had a lot to do with the outcome of the game. Grant and Kafussi ought to have been sinbinned for holding down and obstructing play when the Blues were getting a roll on with quick play the ball late in the 2nd half close to Qlds line. Addo-Carr ought to have been awarded a penalty try as I believe he would have got to the ball first. Whether Frizzel had to go for 10 mins in the 1st half has nothing to do with any descion that needs to be made at any other time in the game. Munster striking Cleary was also another incident that was overlooked and ignored by the Officials,and while I would accept that the Ref may have missed it even though I cant understand how,the fact that the Bunker did after the Ref asked them to check to see if Walker had punched anyone is at best very poor. While I accept that the same case could be made for Qld in this game and others in the Series,the definitive statement that the Ref had nothing to do with the outcome ignores the fact that obvious infingments were ignored and the precedents in regards to the penalties to those that were given were not the same as they have been in recent past,including Game 2 of this year. The players and the fans of both teams should have confidence that the officials will make the call on obvious penalties and apply the sin bin ruling consistently without fear of being accused of ruining the game.
Dave
Roar Rookie
It's not my interpretation of the rules, never said it was, it is the interpretation of the rules by all the referees previously. I see you are a letter of the law type of person, even though there is no such thing - there is precedents set by judges - that is the law. The same goes for rules and referees. By your warped interpretation of the rules there would never be a penalty try awarded ever. Well there has been a bar set by previous referees and this incident well and truly was above that bar for a penalty try.