Origin
New South Wales Origin 6 l. Queensland Origin 10

2007 State of Origin Index [Draw] [Player Stats]

Location: Australia > National > Senior Representative Competition: State of Origin

Queensland finally win at Telstra
Wed June 13, 2007
Queensland has had to overcome a dreadful refereeing performance from Shayne Hayne and relied on their sheer courage in defence to defeat New South Wales 10-6 and take out the State of Origin series.

It was the first time Queensland had won at Telstra Stadium in 11 attempts since the event was moved from Aussie Stadium to the much larger venue and it's the first time since 1987-89 that the Maroons have won two Origin series in succession.

Hayne's performance as referee is going to draw the most attention from the match tonight where a 4-1 penalty count in favour of the Blues spoiled the match as a spectacle. The NSW markers were allowed to get away with murder and the offside rule was barely applied. To the players credit there were opportunities to do a 'Gallen' and fake the injury for a high shot, but they got up to play the ball and keep the play going.

NSW started off impressively and had an early try to Matt King denied when he was pushed out as he went close to scoring in the 7th minute. Two minutes later the Blues opened their account when Brett Stewart crossed over from dummy half after a suspect play the ball from Steve Simpson. Jamie Lyon added the extras for NSW to lead 6-0.

Queensland started to gain the upper hand grinding their way into the match and finally got their reward in the 21st minute when Cameron Smith went down the short side from dummy half and a flick pass bounced to find Greg Inglis who crossed for his 5th try in just three Origin appearances. Johnathan Thurston converted the try to level up the scores.

The scores remained the same until midway through the second half when Luke Bailey gave away a silly penalty when in posession of the ball - Queensland's only penalty of the night. The Maroons got good field position after the touch finder and a few tackles later Thurston put in a neat grubber kick behind the line for Steve Bell to score outwide. Thurston was unable to convert as a thrilling finish was set in place.

NSW had all the attack and momentum late in the match and couldn't find a way through the staunch Queensland defence that withstood pressure after pressure as finally Hayne blew the whistle with the Blues needing all the ball they could muster in their hope to send this series into a decider.

In between all the waves of NSW attack, Queensland did have one opportunity where a pass from Brent Kite was knocked down by Shaun Berrigan who than picked up the ball and beat two feeble attempts at tackle to race 40m and score. The missed tackles, which the main one was from Danny Buderus gave NSW another chance of stealing victory as it appeared Hayne missed the original knock-on and perhaps the one call that went Queensland's way.

Lyon knocked on with 30 seconds to go with the Blues on the attack with what appeared to be the series gone, but a drop ball from Nate Myles with seconds remaining gave the home side one last attack only for the bomb in the air to be safely negated by Inglis and the series to the Maroons.

Many will say it was a boring game and the lack of crunch penalties when they had to be made spoiled this match as a spectacle and the referees have to control what is in front of them and forget everything else that is around them. The standard of refereeing is not crash hot, however, Steve Clark is the best of the bunch by far and deserves greater opportunities in the big matches.

Queensland deserved to win as they played the smarter and more courageous game where their defence was sensational.

NSW tactically didn't play a good game and had so much possession they could have won two or three games with their only try coming from dummy half in the opening ten minutes. Halfback Brett Kimmorley tried hard to engineer the attack, but he was let down by his outside backs with only Stewart and Jarryd Hayne being threatening. Former Queensland great Paul Vautin hit the money on the head after the game when he said the Blues have to find centres who can make a break. Willie Mason, Andrew Ryan, Luke Bailey and Greg Bird were the best of the forwards and yet again Nathan Hindmarsh wasn't used to his full capacity.

Ryan was the standout with 53 tackles and 16 runs and he's already looming as the favourite to be the scapegoat for game three despite his outstanding effort in a beaten side.

The Maroons had plenty of heroes out there with Smith the deserving winner of the official man of the match award and further enhanced his standing as the premier dummy half in the game today. Petero Civoniceva did a mountain of work up the middle, Shaun Berrigan made a nice impact and captain Darren Lockyer was targeted obsessively in defence only to come up trumps. Special mention must go to Dallas Johnson who made a remarkable 61 tackles along with seven hit ups.

One man deserves plenty of credit and that is Queensland coach Mal Meninga. As a player he was a champion in every sense for Australia, Queensland, Souths Brisbane, St Helens and Canberra and as a coach he has brought Queensland from the depths of despair to the premier Rugby League state in just two years. Meninga's service and passion for Queensland can't be measured into words.

Meninga's cause has been helped by the various development programmes being taken place in both Queensland and NSW with the Queensland development and lower grade structures superior. The Broncos, Cowboys and Storm have produced the nucleus of the Queensland side and many of them have come through the very strong Wizard Queensland Cup system and the Maroons are now reaping the benefits.

It's back to the drawing board for NSW and they need to look at the way they approach the game as they've been too negative in their game plans and caught up in the so-called Origin prototype of players rather than picking the team on form and the side that will score you the most points. New blood is required at all levels in NSW and more than just the coach and some of the players have to go after their last four matches with the selectors and administrators at the top of the tree.

Most Tackles:
Dallas Johnson 61
Andrew Ryan 53
Cameron Smith 42
Nathan Hindmarsh 38
Danny Buderus 38

Missed Tackles:
Danny Buderus 6
Petero Civoniceva 6
Braith Anasta 6
Justin Hodges 5
Carl Webb 4

Most Hit Ups/Scoots:
Petero Civoniceva 20
Willie Mason 20
Karmichael Hunt 19
Steve Price 19
Matt King 19

All Runs Metres:
Karmichael Hunt 188
Willie Mason 170
Jarryd Hayne 167
Petero Civoniceva 157
Brett Stewart 153

Kicks In Play:
Brett Kimmorley 20
Johnathan Thurston 15
Darren Lockyer 7
Cameron Smith 6
Braith Anasta 3

Penalties Conceded:
Steve Price 3
Luke Bailey 1
Petero Civoniceva 1

Errors:
Willie Mason 2
Shaun Berrigan 2
Jamie Lyon 2
Ryan Hoffman 2
Neville Costigan 2

Full Game #2 Statistics

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LIVE COVERAGE: 2007 State of Origin 2 Live Score Updates
Wed June 13, 2007
Tonight's second State of Origin match at Telstra Stadium will be live with score updates and all the stats on the rleague.com Live Scores Portal.

Please click on the following link: http://live.rleague.com/nrl_50120070201.html to launch Live Scores for the match.

Wed June 13, 2007
• Stewart handed Origin debut
  
Tue June 12, 2007
• Stewart on standby for in doubt Minichiello
  
Mon June 11, 2007
• Maitua added as Blues 18th man
  
Tue June 5, 2007
• Maroons make one forced change
  
Tue June 5, 2007
• Bird and Hoffman to make Origin debut, Kimmorley recalled
  

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