Origin
Queensland Origin 25 d. New South Wales Origin 18

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

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

Blues choke 12-point lead
Wed May 23, 2007
New South Wales have choked a half-time lead of 18-6 to go down 25-18 in front of 52,498 fanatical Queenslander's at Suncorp Stadium.

The Blues dominated the opening 40 minutes with Jarryd Hayne's brilliant individual try as the siren sounded putting the seal on a great opening 40 minutes. However, it all went pear shaped for NSW after the break as Queensland scored 19 unanswered points to take a 1-0 series lead.

Whatever Maroons coach and Rugby League legend Mal Meninga said at half-time worked a treat as Queensland came out a new side after the break and New South Wales went into their shell and suffered stage fright on the biggest stage.

Queensland made the perfect start to the match with a cross kick from Johnathan Thurston finding an unmarked Greg Inglis with NSW winger and Storm centre Matt King badly caught out of position.

NSW fought back scoring a lucky try through Nathan Hindmarsh with replays showing that it was a forward pass from Braith Anasta to Hindmarsh and that Hindmarsh was held up in-goal by Maroons duo Justin Hodges and Karmichael Hunt. NSW based referee Paul Simpkins had no hesitation in awarding the try and never referred it to the video.

Steve Bell brought back memories of Max Mannix from 1984 when he dropped the ball with the line wide open where Queensland again caught King out of position. The Blues worked the ball up field where they caught Queensland's right side defence short with Andrew Ryan firing a nice pass to an unmarked Matt Cooper to score.

Queensland had a touch and go try disallowed when Simpkins ruled the pass from Cameron Smith to Steve Price forward where earlier he allowed Anasta's pass to Hindmarsh to go. At this moment Queensland would have been justified to call for neutral referees in Origin clashes.

NSW received a great stroke of fortune right on the stroke of half-time when Brent Tate's ill-fated kick rebounded into Hayne who did remarkably well to regather and balance only to run clear and kick ahead where he had too much pace for the Queensland cover to score. The Blues went into the break leading 18-6 and from there they should have won the match.

Meninga's passion for the Queensland jersey and his words of inspiration seemed to have a great effect on his troops in the second half and it was all one-way traffic after the break with a huge crowd spurring on the Maroons as they clawed their way back.

Inglis scored his second try in the 50th minute to get the Maroons back within striking distance as King was again caught out on the right flank. King's usual position in club football is left centre for the Storm and Queensland exposed his out of position play tonight. Thurston who can now lay claim to being the best goal-kicker in the NRL today landed a bottler from the sideline to bring Queensland back within a converted try.

Price scored a well-deserved try from close range when the NSW defence on the line opened up like the Sydney Heads and Thurston's conversion leveled up the scores.

Queensland regained the lead when a clearing kick down field that Hayne believed was a 40-20 (which it wasn't) and he desperately tried to save it from going out where he threw it back into the field of play finding an unmarked Darren Lockyer to score the easiest of Origin tries. The blunder was right out of the Phil Duke and Phil Sigsworth folklore in 1982 and has been followed on since by the likes of Brett Dallas (1993), Justin Hodges (2002) and Brett Hodgson (2006). Thurston converted to put Queensland up by six points and than added a drop-goal to extend the margin to seven points heading into the final ten minutes.

The spark and energy had gone out of the Blues following the Hayne incident and Queensland held on to win 25-18. It was the equal second biggest comeback victory in Origin history with Queensland's 22-15 victory in 1981 after being down 15-0 still the largest comeback. The other 12 point comeback came in 1986 when the Blues inspired by Brett Kenny shifting to the centres came from 12-0 down after 10 minutes to win 18-16 to claim their first clean sweep victory.

Queensland will need to make one forced change for game two in Sydney with Antonio Kaufusi out with a knee injury and it's likely that Carl Webb will return after originally being ruled out yesterday. Maroons forward Nate Myles could be in trouble for a dangerous throw and any lengthy suspension could see another forward added to the Queensland squad with Sam Thaiday the likely option. The very unluckly Billy Slater has to hope for an injury to win a recall as Queensland won't change the backline, although Slater has more merit to be in the side than Steve Bell.

NSW will certainly make one change with Ryan Hoffman coming into the side with Anthony Tupou likely to miss out. Tupou was a fortunate selection in both the Test and State sides with his selection for Australia mostly due to his former club connection with Australian coach Ricky Stuart. Although Ryan has usually been the favourite scapegoat of the NSW selectors even though he had a fine match tonight.

The Blues also have to work out how to best use Kurt Gidley and replacing captain Danny Buderus again affected the momentum NSW had during the match. Last year NSW twice tempted interchanging Buderus only for it to backfire dramatically.

It was also nice to see that Hodges have what appeared to be a few words of encouragement to Hayne after the match. Hodges had a nightmare debut in 2002 where he was hooked off the field midway through the second half and he has since returned to be one of the better centres in the game today.

Queensland 25 (Tries: Inglis 2, Price, Lockyer. Goals: Thurston 4/4. Drop-Goals: Thurston) defeated New South Wales 18 (Tries: Hindmarsh, Cooper, Hayne. Goals: Lyon 3/4).

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Charity Picks Up Scalped Tickets
Wed May 23, 2007
Source: www.qrl.com.au

Young people and carers from the Down Syndrome Association of Queensland have been the beneficiaries of a combined Queensland Rugby League and Queensland Government crackdown on online scalping.

Selected as the QRL charity of choice, the DSAQ will take the seats of any cancelled tickets when State of Origin I kicks off at Suncorp Stadium tomorrow night, Wednesday May 23.

The expedition to the famous Cauldron is set to further bond the tight-knit organisation, which has over 1000 members around the State, but only three part-time staff at its humble Stafford base.

"This will be a great buzz for many of our members. We've got some true rugby league fanatics among the group," president Sandra Mayberry said.

"I'm not sure I should say this, but we will actually have a good mix of Queensland fans and New South Wales fans. Even among families we have parents going for one team and children barracking for the other."

With a charter to empower Queenslanders with Down Syndrome as valued and contributing members of the community, DSAQ has existed since 1976.

The organisation runs several programs to assist with participation in the workforce and other community activities, such as sport.

The DSAQ's 'Club Rainbow', which helps young members form friendships and make informed life choices, was backed in its inception by the Brisbane Broncos.

Of the current Queensland Maroons team, debutant Neville Costigan has a younger brother, John, who lives with Down Syndrome.

This marks the third year the QRL has invalidated tickets connected with online scalping and donated the seats to a community organisation. Previous recipients were the Starlight Foundation and Make A Wish Foundation.

News sent by: www.qrl.com.au

Wed May 23, 2007
• Carlaw added as Maroons 18th man
  
Tue May 22, 2007
• Webb ruled out of Origin, Kaufusi called in for debut
  
Mon May 21, 2007
• Carl Webb Injury Update
  
Wed May 16, 2007
• Minichiello in doubt for Origin opener
  
Tue May 15, 2007
• Lyon to fight dangerous throw charge
  
Tue May 15, 2007
• Four Knights in the Blues
  
Tue May 15, 2007
• White named as starting prop in Origin debut
  
Tue May 15, 2007
• Blues name five Origin debutants
  
Tue May 15, 2007
• Costigan named to make Maroons Origin debut
  
Tue May 15, 2007
• State of Origin teams to be named shortly
  

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