New South Wales took the State of Origin to a series decider after a record-breaking first half helped them to a convincing 38-18 win over Queensland in Melbourne.
The hosts ran in six tries during a stunning opening 40 minutes at a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground, smashing the record for the biggest half-time lead when they were 34-0 up at break, with Liam Martin, Brian To’o (2), Zac Lomax (2) and Latrell Mitchell all scoring.
Martin and Pat Carrigan were both sent to the sin bin as tensions boiled over during the second half, where Queensland improved with tries from Jeremiah Nanai and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow.
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Debutant Dylan Edwards added a seventh NSW try before Murray Taulagi crossed over late on for Queensland, who will have home advantage for the third and final match of the series at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on July 17.
Queensland – State of Origin winners the previous two years – won the opener 38-10 on June 5, where New South Wales played the majority of the match with 12 men after Joseph Suaalii was sent off on his Blues debut.
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Live Women's State of Origin
Slater: Tough came ‘snowballed’ for Queensland
Maroons coach Billy Slater: “It was a tough first half, felt like we were running uphill and we couldn’t stop the momentum of the game. Part of that is on us and we’ll look at our game and work out what we need to adjust and what we need to go after and one thing I do know is there’s another game in three weeks now.
“It’s a tough game to play and it’s a lot tougher when you’re tired, so it snowballed against the team and we just couldn’t stop it. It was nearly 70-30 possession in that first half and the scoreline reflected that.”
Player of the match Mitchell Moses: “I felt we just had a simple game plan, we stuck to it, got to our spots, kicked to the corners and played simple footy.
“It was a bit of silly stuff in the second half that probably hurt us. Probably should have went away with the game a bit more. We learn from that, take it into Game Three.”
What’s next?
The Women’s State of Origin series takes centre stage on Thursday with a series decider between Queensland and New South Wales at the Queensland Country Bank Stadium in Townsville. Live coverage begins at 10.30am on Sky Sports Action ahead of the match starting at 10.45am.
Game 3 of the Men’s State of Origin takes place on Wednesday July 17, live on Sky Sports, with both sides level at one game apiece and Queensland bidding to win the series for a third successive year.
Watch every match of the 2024 Betfred Super League season, including Magic Weekend, the play-offs, and men’s, women’s, and wheelchair Grand Finals, live on Sky Sports. Also stream with NOW.