The Queensland Maroons have retained the State of Origin shield with a comprehensive 32-6 victory over NSW in Game Two at Suncorp Stadium.
Result
Queensland 32
Tries: (6) Valentine Holmes 8th, 42nd; Murray Taulagi 33rd; Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow 50th; Xavier Coates 64th; Jeremiah Nanai 73rd
Goals: (4) Valentine Holmes 35th, 44th, 65th, 75th
New South Wales 6
Tries: (1) Damien Cook 57th
Goals: (1) Mitchell Moses 57th
Report
Queensland will be looking to clean sweep the series in Sydney after they defeated a poor NSW Blues side, not helped by the early injury to Tom Trbojevic. It is a result that will surely see Brad Fittler removed as NSW coach.
It didn’t start well, with Trbojevic’s injury in the third minute, as he tore his pectoral muscle and didn’t return. He was replaced by hooker Damien Cook in the centres and he had a tough night, although one questions why he remained there all game.
Queensland opened the scoring in the eighth minute with a try to Valentine Holmes which was referred to the Bunker as ‘No Try’. It came from a short kick to Xavier Coates over Josh Addo-Carr: the NSW winger lost the ball backwards and Homes pounced on the ball, but it required more video scrutiny as it wasn’t clear if Holmes had grounded it properly. The Bunker said yes, although that ruling was debatable. The conversion missed, so the score remained 4-0.
NSW started to get into the game at this point, and the best of the attack was a little chip-and-chase early in the tackle count for Mitchell Moses which almost paid off. The follow up possibly should have seen a try, but the ball found Cook in the centres and he couldn’t get the ball to the winger Addo-Carr. That lack of finish was to be a theme all night for the Blues.
Further excitement and disappointment for NSW as Stephen Crichton intercepted a pass. He looks set to score but was chased down by Daly Cherry-Evans of all players. Queensland scored soon after through the hands of Reece Walsh, David Fifita, and The Hammer (via a unchecked forward pass), for Murray Tualagi to score, after he flirted with the dead ball line for 10 metres. The conversion from in front gave Queensland a 10-0 lead which remained the half-time score.
NSW needed to score early in the second but Queensland extended their lead. Walsh made a break from a bomb catch and ran 60 metres upfield before being stopped by James Tedesco. A few plays later Queensland had struck the first blow of the second half, when the ball eventually found its way to Holmes who reached out to score – Reece Walsh threw the final pass to bookend the attacking set. Holmes slotted the sideline conversion with ease and the Maroons now led 16-0.
Queensland made NSW pay one more time for poor execution in attack. Queensland ran the blind side through Munster, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, and finally Xavier Coates, who put in a chip kick back inside which Payne Haas had covered until it bounced, and – proving nearly everything was on Queensland’s side – the ball jinked left to The Hammer who scored. Holmes misses the conversion and the score remained 20-0.
NSW finally crossed through stand-in centre Cook, which made up for a pretty ordinary night. It was a little from broken play as an offload went astray, but Cook pierced through the Maroons’ line for the try. Moses converted the try to give NSW a sniff of a comeback at 20-6 with 22 minutes to go.
This lifted the Blues for a while, and it looked like the comeback might be on, but it was swiftly extinguished by another Queensland try. After a repeat set and and a penalty, they extended the lead through Xavier Coates who put on the acrobatics in the corner to score with a few centimetres to spare, the final pass thrown by Walsh again. Holmes converted from the sideline to make it 26-6.
That last try unsurprisingly took the wind out of the Blues’ sails, as their attacking plays continued to flop and their ferocious defence from a few minutes prior was fizzing. Then more luck for Queensland as a cross-field kick looked easily covered by Cook, but he was taken out by Addo-Carr, and Jeremiah Nanai was on hand to score the sixth Queensland try. Holmes converted for a 32-6 lead.
The game fizzled out in the last few minutes, but there was still time for one more melee, with Jarome Luai involved with Walsh. It escalated when Josh Addo-Carr ran in with a cheap shot. Walsh also threw in a head butt towards Luai. Addo-Carr got 10 minutes in the sin bin with 22 seconds to go. More sensation to come as Walsh was sent off for the head butt. But it doesn’t stop there as Luai was also sent off for an even better head butt. You’d think it may be Luai’s last minute of Origin. It could be the last of a few others as the scapegoating will begin. It will certainly be the second last game of Brad Fittler’s NSW coaching career.
Queensland, meanwhile, take a 2-0 series lead into the final game, with Billy Slater looking like a master coach, and the Maroons looking like a side going in for the kill.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR POINTS
Embed from Getty Images3 – Cameron Munster (QLD)
2 – Daly Cherry-Evans (QLD)
1 – Lindsay Collins (QLD)
