NSW silence Queensland and claim State of Origin shield with boilover for the ages

Queensland will cry blue murder at a couple of contentious calls but history will speak only of New South Wales delivering one of the all-time great Origin boilovers on Wednesday night. Despite being outplayed in Sydney and smashed in Melbourne, the Blues did the unthinkable, silencing Suncorp Stadium with a 12-30 victory to seal the Origin shield.

Under siege for weeks, with their coach Laurie Daley pilloried in all sections of the media, NSW were magnificent, scoring five tries to emphatically silence the critics. The hero was Nathan Cleary, who scored two tries and kicked five goals from five to win the Wally Lewis Medal as Man of the series and finally “own” the Origin arena.

Cleary had a one-word strategy for the decider: “Control.” It was the statement of a man who knows words aren’t deeds. The NSW maestro had missed an Origin record 10 tackles when NSW were mauled by 36 second-half points in game two. He may have four premiership rings but Cleary’s reputation in Origin was on the line.

Sure enough, NSW controlled the first half, Cleary steering the ship and calling the shots. Each time the Maroons threatened to enter the Blues’ red zone, his halves partner Mitchell Moses reefed the ball 60 metres downfield. Once pinned, NSW sent in shock troopers, Liam Martin and Hudson Young, with controlled violence.

Twice it almost resulted in tries. In the ninth minute debutant Jack Bostock outleapt Jojo Fifita and forced six-again. But from the next set and with the line wide open the NSW winger bobbled the pass. Minutes later, NSW went within a whisker of scoring when Mark Nawaqanitawase crossed the line but fumbled Cleary’s deadly dink kick.

But Queensland were scrambling and strong runs by Mitch Barnett and Payne Haas from bullet passing by Reece Robson gave Cleary the time he needed to draw first blood. He turned a slow play-the-ball into an ambush charge on his own, stepping Kurt Capewell and surging through three Maroons to scrape the paint for 0-6.

The Maroons made their fourth error of the quarter when Kalyn Ponga bungled an overlap with a pass even Selwyn Cobbo couldn’t reach. It gifted NSW the ball and again they capitalised, Haas bending the line and Bradman Best breaking it. By now Cleary had touched the ball 15 times and Sam Walker only five. His 16th touch was a second try.

The setup was brilliant, Martin unleashed hell on his old nemesis Cameron Munster, stepping him and finding a flying Stephen Crichton who spun out of a tackle and slipped the pill to Nawaqanitawase moving at speed. The hulking winger feinted, and swerved before looping a one-handed pass inside to – who else – Cleary.

At 0-12, the Suncorp cauldron had been quietened. But when Cobbo was rattled in a tackle and Cleary stripped the ball cold and spun it, everyone in Maroon held their breath. Best went close but on the next play, Cameron Murray’s fresh legs smashed through three defenders and spun over. At 0-18 the Suncorp went deathly silent.

But Queensland can bend time like bananas. When Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow chased a kick and forced an error from Nawaqanitawase, Munster loosened a wire to spark a fire. He ran on the last play and Tabuai-Fidow finished his earlier good work by barreling between two tacklers to crash into the corner for his 14th Origin try.

Just before half-time, Briton Nikora and James Tedesco collided, levelling the veteran fullback for a grade-two HIA assessment and sparking another mock brawl between the teams. The war had another half to come but NSW had won the battle so far.

When the home side added another error in the first minute of the second half, Maroons coach Billy Slater pulled the trigger every Queenslander had been waiting all series for, sending on Reece Walsh for a groggy Walker. Within minutes he’d shot a sublime pass for Ponga to set up Cobbo to kick and catch and dot down.

Now the Brisbane crowd found their voice. But their cheers became jeers when a contentious aerial contest was scooped up by Best who raced away, showing club teammate Ponga a clean pair of heels, to score a runaway 80-metre try. Despite replays showing the ball clip Bostock’s hand and going forward, the try was upheld.

Even at 8-24, the Blues couldn’t breathe easy. Queensland picked up the broken pieces and made a masterpiece. Walker threw a mongrel pass and Toia made it stock, dodging Best and Murray and sending Jojo Fifita over in the right corner. Having kicked at 100% all series, Walker then missed his third kick of the night.

The Maroons looked to have done it again minutes later when Walker’s bomb went unchecked and Toia hit it at full speed and sped away to make it 16-24 and game on. But again the bunker rebuffed the home side, finding Max Plath a step offside. And when iceman Cleary kicked a penalty goal to make 26-12, Queensland were cooked.