Geez, Louise.
Hell, Nell!
Who saw that, coming?
I, for one, did not. And with the exception of Tom Decent – the sole Herald pundit who predicted a Blues win – none of us did. A moment, please, while we scrape the scrambled eggs off our face and go on with it.
The first and most obvious thing to say is that in the first half NSW were simply stunning, while Queensland just did not look like themselves. All of us were expecting the Maroons Lions to simply tear the blinking Blues Christians apart in the Colosseum, only to find that someone flipped the scripts, flicked the switch and turned everything turvy-topsy.
Suddenly, before our very eyes, the Christians in the Colosseum started back-slamming the lions! Payne Haas and Stephen Crichton were running riot for the Blues while it was Harry Grant and Cameron Munster who were being cut in two.
Most importantly for the Blues, Nathan Cleary, who to this point has only ever had one question mark over his superlative career – can he perform in the cauldron of Origin? – was superlative.
He had scored two tries before the Maroons had caught their breath. And it was Cleary again, who was instrumental in doing the work to set up yet another try for the Blues by ripping the ball off Selwyn Cobbo in a tackle, close to the line, which saw Blues reserve Cameron Murray do his version of Inspector Gadget and reach his hand out to plant it next to the posts.
18-0 to the Blues! In the decider. In QUEENSLAND.
Louise? Pell-mell Nell??
They had fainted.
And where were the Queenslanders themselves? Exactly. Nowhere to be seen. Who could ever imagine that in such a match as this, Queenslanders could miss 30 – count ’em, THIRTY tackles, in the first 40 minutes?
The fact that the Queensland winger Hamiso “The Hammer” Tabuai-Fidow scored a try for the Maroons just before half-time to bring it back to 18-4 restored some respectability, but was it still too much of a lead for the Maroons to haul in? Surely.
In desperation, Maroons coach Billy Slater played his joker, the quixotic Reece Walsh and was immediately rewarded. Walsh was dynamic throughout the second half, and the fact the Blues had to scramble in force to stop him opened gaps elsewhere. Both Selwyn Cobbo and Jojo Fifita took advantage to score great tries, and bar the fact that none of the Queensland tries were converted – and Bradman Best had scored a runaway try of his own for the Blues – we would have been set for a classic finish. But at 24-12, with 12 minutes to go, they couldn’t do it, bar the same kind of miracle that allowed NSW to pluck victory from the jaws of defeat in the final minutes, the way they had in Origin I.
For a moment, it looked like a star had indeed appeared in the East, as the Maroons Rob Toia went over for a beauty … only for the bunker to sunk’er! (All for the big toe of one foot of a Queenslander being offside.) Cleary’s penalty goal shortly afterward to give the visitors a 26-12 lead with nine minutes on the clock, iced the game. And Hudson Young’s try on the bell to finish it at 30-12 was the final humiliation for the locals.
In sum?
In sum, it was a great and amazing win to the Blues against all odds. I am still not sure if it was due to Laurie Daley’s coaching genius, rather than the selectors getting the team right by Origin III, and Queensland having a rare off-night, but it doesn’t matter.
We said they’d never make it. They did make it.
It was a fabulous win to the Blues, and will be gloried in, for years to come. Congratulations to them, and to Nathan Cleary in particular, who was magisterial all night.
Waiter! Some bacon to go with my eggs, please. And some more crow sandwiches?
Peter FitzSimons is a journalist and columnist with The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X.From our partners
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