State of Origin 2018: Blues Beat Maroons, Clinch Series in Game 2 Thriller
New South Wales Blues are the State of Origin champions for just the second time in 13 attempts. They overcame Queensland Maroons 18-14 at the ANZ Stadium on Sunday, taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
Queensland flew out of the traps, as tries from Valentine Holmes and Dane Gagai gave them a 10-0 lead. However, the home side roared back, with tries from Josh Addo-Carr and Boyd Cordner giving the Blues a 12-10 lead at the break.
The Blues carried that momentum into the second half, with Latrell Mitchell barrelling over to his side some breathing room. Will Chambers was able to close the gap for the Maroons with a try, while a sin bin for New South Wales' James Roberts set up a nervy final 10 minutes.
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In the end, the home side battled to a determined victory, picking up their first Origin series win since 2014.
Queensland were able to welcome back the influential Billy Slater for this one, and he made a huge difference. He thought he'd set up a try for Gagai, although the effort was ruled out by the video referee.
As the NRL Twitter account noted, the Maroons man did everything to try to get the ball down:
The decision didn't deter the visitors, as Queensland continued to dominate. Slater was involved again, as he fed Greg Inglis, who then found Holmes on the wing to go in untouched. While Holmes couldn't add the extra points, suddenly there was a tension around the ANZ.
Queensland capitalised. For the second time in the match, Gagai scampered clear, breaking a tackle and getting the ball down over the try line. This time Holmes did convert, and within 20 minutes the Maroons had a double-digit lead.
As we can see here, it was a brilliant bit of play to burst open the New South Wales defence:
The Blues needed to respond quickly, and a penalty gave them a reprieve. From it, they shifted left to find Addo-Carr, who showed nifty feet to get away from a few tackles and over. Maloney nailed the conversion, and suddenly the match was back in the balance again at 10-6.
On the half-hour mark, New South Wales were ahead for the first time. A delicate kick from Maloney appeared set to release Cordner, before he was taken out by Ben Hunt. The officials made the bold decision to award the penalty try.
As Maloney stuck a straightforward conversion over the posts, Adam Hawse of Fox Sports noted how rare incidents like this are in Origin matches:
Here's a look at the controversial moment:
At the start of the second period, New South Wales were brilliant, pinning their rivals back from the off. In the 50th minute, at the end of some patient play, Mitchell eventually powered over.
Maloney split the posts with the conversion, giving New South Wales daylight at 18-10. But Queensland aren't a team to write off.
After scoring the try, an error from Mitchell gave the Maroons great territory. From there, they worked the ball to the right, where Chambers was there to finish. A sin bin for Blues man James Roberts then meant they would have to play much of the final 10 minutes with 12 men too.
As journalist Tim Barrow noted, some bad decisions were being made all of a sudden by the home side:
The pressure did come late on from the Maroons, as they sought to make the man advantage count.
However, the Blues were able to manage the period well, taking their time on the ball and defending with tremendous intensity. When the clock did tick up to 80 minutes, there were scenes of delirium on the field and in the stands for those in blue. Moments like these have been rare for those from New South Wales in recent years.
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