Queensland Maroons win State of Origin II to seal series victory over disjointed NSW Blues
By Jon Healy and Simon Smale at Lang Park
Posted Wed 21 Jun 2023 at 6:57pmWednesday 21 Jun 2023 at 6:57pm, updated Wed 21 Jun 2023 at 11:23pmWednesday 21 Jun 2023 at 11:23pm
Help keep family & friends informed by sharing this article
abc.net.au/news/maroons-win-state-of-origin-game-ii-series-blues-lang-park/102503124
Link copiedCOPY LINKSHARE
Queensland has emphatically beaten New South Wales 32-6 at a raucous and jubilant Lang Park to win the 2023 State of Origin series.
The Maroons took a 1-0 lead with a gritty 26-18 win in Adelaide three weeks ago, but their effort to seal the series at home was total domination from the opening minutes.
Queensland led 10-0 at half-time despite only having 42 per cent of possession, but they still had more running in the second half, adding four more tries to finish off the rout.
Five quick hits from Origin II
Valentine Holmes scored two tries, while Murray Taulagi, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Xavier Coates and Jeremiah Nanai also crossed as the Maroons dominated a badly misfiring Blues team.
Damien Cook, who came into the game after two minutes when Tom Trbojevic left the field with a pectoral injury, crossed for the Blues’ only try in the 57th minute of a disjointed performance.
Frustrations boiled over in the dying seconds, with Reece Walsh and Jarome Luai sent off after a scuffle and Josh Addo-Carr sin-binned for a flying punch on Walsh in the brawl.
The win gives Billy Slater his second series win in a row as coach, and adds to the pressure on Blues boss Brad Fittler, who will be forced to answer questions about his team selection and tactics after his side was completely overpowered by the relentless Maroons.
For as good as Queensland was, they were not regularly threatened by a NSW side with a reshuffled backline, due to injuries to halfback Nathan Cleary before the game and Trbojevic in the opening minutes.
Halves Mitchell Moses and Luai lacked polish in the face of some frenetic Maroons pressure when in defence — and the Blues’ could not handle some magical Maroons finishing at their end of the park.
Part of the Blues’ woes were undoubtedly down to the early injury to Trbojevic, forcing Souths hooker Cook on early to play out of position in the centres, highlighting New South Wales’ decision to leave out Nicho Hynes and Matt Burton, which left the bench without a genuine utility.
The Maroons needed just a handful of minutes to take advantage through Holmes’s opening score — and despite conceding plenty of possession and territory, never looked back.
There was a degree of controversy about the opening try, with no score being awarded on field on account of Xavier Coates appearing to knock on while challenging Josh Addo-Carr.
The bunker ruled there was no touch from the Queensland flyer though, and ruled that Holmes had enough of his fingertips on the ball to apply downward pressure and Queensland led for the fourth time in as many Origin matches.
New South Wales, as in the first game, began to enjoy the majority of possession, but were seemingly unable to do much with it when they got close to the Queensland line.
The Maroons’ solid defence, led by irrepressible player of the match Lindsay Collins, seemed impregnable — and even when the Blues had a gilt-edged chance to convert, they failed to do so thanks to the heroics of a veteran.
As the Maroons challenged the Blues’ right edge, Stephen Crichton picked up a loose ball and took off down the wing with 90 metres of free space ahead of him.
Queensland skipper Daly Cherry-Evans tore after him from midfield and, backed by 52,433 roaring Queensland supporters in Lang Park, tracked down and scragged the Penrith centre 20 metres out.
If the Blues had reason to feel aggrieved about the first try, the second would have also caused consternation.
There appeared to be a clear forward pass from David Fifita as the Maroons moved the ball left to Murray Taulagi, but it was missed by the officials and Queensland led 10-0 at the break.
The Blues needed a good start after half time but it was Queensland who crossed again, moving the ball right to Holmes, who picked up and spectacularly finished in the corner.
Taulagi’s superb try-saving tackle on Crichton when the Blues were able to string a set together off the back of the penalty in Maroons territory typified the Maroons’ desperate defence, and the following passage emphasised the Blues’ woes throughout the entire contest.
Another muffed spreading of the ball out wide turned possession back to the Maroons, who worked their way up field, where Harry Grant and Cameron Munster launched a short-side sneak attack.
The ball went to Taulagi, who chipped infield, where prop Payne Haas appeared to have it covered before a rank bounce landed in the hands of Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow to score.
The Blues continued to press, dominating possession and eventually crossing through Cook, who darted through with 22 minutes remaining to give the Blues hope.
But it took just a handful of minutes for Queensland to snuff out that challenge, when Coates scored in the corner, dotting down acrobatically once again.
The Maroons’ final try, scored by Nanai, was suitably farcical on the part of NSW with Cook making a leaping catch, before Addo-Carr took out his legs, knocking the ball loose and sending it into Nanai’s path to seal an emphatic victory.
After dominant Blues wins in 2018 and 2019, the Maroons have now won three of the past four series.