State of Origin 2016: Game 3 Score and Reaction for Blues vs. Maroons
A 79th-minute try from Michael Jennings gave New South Wales Blues a dramatic 18-14 win over Queensland Maroons at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney on Wednesday, as they avoided a series whitewash in the 2016 State of Origin series.
An early try from Greg Inglis gave the Maroons a 4-0 lead, although the Blues went ahead after a Tyson Frizell try was converted.
After the break, converted tries from Andrew Fifita and Gavin Cooper moved the score on to 12-10 to New South Wales. Darius Boyd's 74th-minute try looked to have won it for the visitors before Jennings went over seconds before the buzzer.
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Queensland had already clinched their ninth series in 10 years coming into this one, having won both of the first two matches.
It was a momentous day for New South Wales’ long-serving skipper Paul Gallen, who was playing in his final Origin tie. The team’s official Twitter feed paid tribute to him prior to kick-off:
The Blues got off to a sloppy start, though. In the fifth minute, a knock-on gave Queensland the ball deep in New South Wales territory.
As we can see here courtesy of the NRL Twitter feed, after some sharp passing, Inglis finished in the left corner:
After Johnathan Thurston uncharacteristically missed the conversion, the Blues responded very well, putting the Maroons defence under pressure and feeding off the noise created by the crowd.
Eventually, they grabbed the try their play deserved. A brilliant high take from Blake Ferguson stopped a Queensland attack, and from there, New South Wales built their play brilliantly. It culminated with a superb offload from Gallen, before Frizell finished with aplomb; James Maloney converted to make it 6-4.
A 10-minute sin bin for Cooper Cronk after some persistent holding gave the Blues a chance to extend their lead before the interval. They piled forward, setting up camp in the Queensland half. But despite a succession of opportunities, the Maroons were able to hold firm and kept the deficit to two.
At half-time, AAP’s Steve Zemek summed up just how well Queensland had done to keep the score down and how profligate the Blues had been with their chances:
It didn’t take long for the hosts to extend their advantage after the restart, though. Within two minutes of the kick-off, they’d capitalised on a defensive error from the Maroons, with Fifita scrambling over the try line. Maloney’s simple conversion gave the Blues an eight-point lead.
Given the quality of their play throughout the series, a response from Queensland did seem inevitable at this point. And it was a day to remember for Cooper, as he scored on his Origin debut.
As we can see here, he did superbly to hold off the challenge of the New South Wales defender before Thurston’s conversion cut the Blues’ lead to 12-10:
A brawl in the aftermath of the try resulted in Fifita sitting out 10 minutes and allowing the Maroons a chance to get a foothold in the game. But they were unable to capitalise with their opponents a man down.
They were staying in the game with clever kicking and savvy running, though, keeping the Blues under pressure. And in the 74th minute, that told, as a big kick forward slipped through the hands of Josh Mansour before a delighted Boyd reacted fastest to touch down.
It was a huge blow to the home crowd, who were plunged into silence. But even with the series gone and a possible whitewash to come, the Blues battled back late in the game with just two points to make up. And it was Jennings who capitalised after a wonderful surge from Ferguson to win this one for the Blues:
Fittingly, it left Gallen with the chance to add a conversion with his last action in Origin matches, and he did exactly that, making the score 18-14 on the buzzer.
Blues head coach Laurie Daley was pleased with the efforts of his side in the third game of the series:
Meanwhile, Cam Smith picked up the prestigious Wally Lewis medal. Here's what he had to say:
The Blues looked as though they were going to see rudimentary errors cost them again here. However, they showed great spirit in the latter stages, and while another series has escaped them, a last-gasp win over their rivals is always something to savour. Gallen will be delighted with how he bowed out, too.
Queensland did look leggy in the latter stages and perhaps felt the effects of the late pressure in the first period. They'll be contented with another series win nonetheless, something that'll quickly ease the pain of this late loss.
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