As the dust settled and New South Wales celebrated, it was apparent that the Blues now held a 1-0 lead over the Maroons in this years' series. New South Wales out-enthused Queensland in the first half and kept the Maroons scoreless at half time for the first time since 2006.
It was Jarryd Hayne who got the Blues off to a dream start. He received a pass from man of the match Luke Lewis and showing strength and determination he bullied his way over the line, carrying both Greg Inglis and Billy Slater with him.
Debutante James Maloney showed composure and coolness under pressure, executing his plays and kicks to perfection. Maloney is truly a player of the future. Queensland were seemingly at a loss for the first time in years as to how to break the New South Wales line.
Thurston and Cronk both had quiet games with Cameron Smith being constantly harassed out of dummy-half. The Blues forwards stuck it to the Maroons, with none other than Paul Gallen leading the charge.
Michael Jennings was the next to cross after some messy lead up play resulting from a charge down. Jennings picked up the lossed ball and beat 6 Queenslanders to plant the ball next to the left hand up-right.
Closing in on half-time Gallen had had enough of Nate Myles and his cheap shots. Gal led first with a left jab and then a right cross with both hitting their target. It wouldn't be Origin without a few punches thrown. New South Wales led 14-0 at the break.
Queensland came out of the sheds and began piling the pressure on but New South Wales held firm. Cameron Smith sliced through the Blues line but Hayne was able to drag him down with Smith giving away a penalty for double movement.
It was soon game on though after Darius Boyd touched down and Smith converted from the sideline. The score stood at 14-6 and Queensland continued to pile the pressure on. But the Blue line stood firm and repelled every wave of attack.
For the first time in a long time Queensland didn't have that winning play in their arsenal. They dropped the ball in important positions and never fully capitalised on their second half pressure.
The player count still stands at 249 for New South Wales after Josh Reynolds did his best impersonation of Aaron Raper and sat on the bench for 80 minutes.
Onwards to Brisbane, UP THE BLUES.
Replies
Hayne saved 2 tries and scored one. Brilliant.
My sincere condolences to Qld.
what ever, my sincere F%$K YOU to Qld... that is all
Hayne was outstanding, so were bird and Lewis. Pearce is still shit.
Yea, I didn't think Pearce was that great! or Tamou either. Who could replace Pearce ?
How about Carney?
Did i mention Pearce is still rubbish???
NSW will need to improve on their completion rate. They may have dropped alot of ball during attacking raids, but the end result was too much drop ball.
Other than this, great game Blues.
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