State of Origin 2019: Date, Start Time, Live Stream for Maroons vs. Blues Game 2
June 21, 2019
The New South Wales Blues will look to keep the 2019 State of Origin series alive on Sunday when they face the Queensland Maroons in their second meeting.
The two sides will face off at the Optus Stadium in Perth, Australia, with the Blues aiming to avenge an 18-14 defeat in the series opener on June 5.
Date: Sunday, June 23
Time: 5:50 p.m. local (10:50 a.m. BST, 5:50 a.m. ET)
TV Info: Channel 9 (AUS), Sky Sports (UK)
The Blues are the defending champions, having won the series last year for just the second time since 2005.
They looked to be on course for a strong start to this year's series when they took an 8-0 lead at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane into half-time in the first match, but Queensland battled back to draw first blood.
New South Wales have rung the changes in response to their defeat and dropped seven players—three because of injuries—including Latrell Mitchell.
Mitchell was sin-binned in the second half, and Dane Gagai scored the first of his two tries while the Blues player was off the field:
Josh Morris is also among those dropped despite scoring the Blues' opening try.
Fox Sports' Warren Smith had sympathy for him:
Cody Walker and Angus Crichton have also been left out, along with the injured David Klemmer (wrist), Payne Haas (hamstring) and Nick Cotric (ankle).
In their place will come Blake Ferguson, Tom Trbojevic, James Maloney, Daniel Saifiti, Dale Finucane, Wade Graham and Tariq Sims.
As for Queensland, they're keeping the same squad together following the victory, aside from replacing Joe Ofahengaue (knee) and Jai Arrow (ankle) with Tim Glasby and Jarrod Wallace.
Gagai will be hoping to add to his tally after his brace of tries in the first match took him to 11 in as many State of Origin games:
Despite their comeback, Maroons boss Kevin Walters is confident his team are capable of much better.
"With the team we have selected, we know there is improvement," Walters said, per Queensland's official website. "After reviewing the game [at Suncorp], I would probably give it a five, or maybe if I am being kind, a six out of 10, and the players are aware of this."
If that was a middle-of-the-road performance from Queensland, New South Wales will have to hope their replacements can help them produce a significantly better showing than they did in the first game, or the series will be going back to their rivals once again.