QLD have defeated New South Wales 11-10 in Game 1 of the 2015 State of Origin Series at ANZ Stadium on Wednesday night.
NSW played some vigorous footy in the first half, going into the break with a 2-point lead. After an even first 10 minutes the Blues scored twice in 8 minutes in response to the Maroons early opener. The second half was
Chambers scores in the 55th minute on the back of a soft penalty against the Blues defence, creeping up inside the 10 metre zone. Sam Thaiday drew two defenders before offloading to create the overlap. Thurston missed the conversion and scores were locked at 10-10 in the 55th minute.
NSW were 5/9 in second half completions and struggling to keep in touch as QLD mounted a charge. Cameron Smith was held up in the 66th minute after consecutive sets of six on the NSW line.
Johnathon Thurston elected to kick for penalty goal from 45 metres in the 70th minute but it fell agonisingly short of the mark.
NSW earned a penalty and were gifted excellent field position in the 72nd, but they elected to run the ball. Michael Jennings grubbered the ball dead, handing a 20 metre tap and 7 tackles to the Maroons. QLD marched up the field and flung the ball to Cronk who converted a trademark field goal to put the Maroons up 11-10 with 5 to play.
In the 77th minute NSW worked the ball into position for another shot at field goal, this time to tie the match and send it into extra-time. Josh Dugan was thrown a difficult ball and had to sell a dummy before rushing a shot at goal. The ball sailed to the right after making good contact.
Queensland strode down the pitch, juicing the final seconds out of the match. The experience of the QLD squad shone through in the end. Laurie Daley will have some tough decisions to make heading into game two in Melbourne in three weeks.
“Tough game, that was a really tough game of football. We hung in there. True Queensland spirit,” commented match winner Cooper Cronk.
The halfback combined effectively in attack with Johnathan Thurston utilising the pinpoint kicking game of Cameron Smith from dummy half.
NSW were reeling after failing to capatalise on a number of opportunities.
“Just no ball in the second half. We let ourselves down with our discipline and our execution in the second half,” commented Blues captain Robbie Farah. The busy hooker had his shoulder injured after a questionable tackle by Justin Hodges. A tackle that wasn’t placed on report or even penalised. A tackle that was strikingly similar to the tackle that has Greg Bird watching the match in his trackies.
“It’s not the best, we will have to see what the doctors say,” was all Farah could add on the severity of his injury.
“The second half was a lot more controlled and a lot more patient,” commented man of the match Cameron Smith in the sheds after the match.
It was the 5th time that Smith has earned the award voted by NSW and QLD selectors in Origin matches. Smith dominated in defence, slowing down play and putting himself between the ball and attacker. His underrated kicking game helped keep the NSW attack bogged down in their own half.
Getty Images: Mark Kolbe
