State of Origin: Queensland seal 2-1 series triumph with epic win over New South Wales in Brisbane
Valentine Holmes, Kurt Capewell, Kalyn Ponga and Ben Hunt all crossed to secure this year's State of Origin for the Maroons with victory at Suncorp Stadium; An epic encounter saw Dane Gagai and Matt Burton sin-binned following an all-brawl too
Monday 18 July 2022 17:14, UK
Ben Hunt’s interception try two minutes from time proved enough to clinch this year’s State of Origin for Queensland with a breathless 22-12 win over New South Wales at Suncorp Stadium.
Valentine Holmes' try and conversion put the Maroons into the lead after a bruising opening quarter of an hour, but the Blues rallied to lead through converted scores from Jarome Luai and debutant Jacob Saifiti.
Kurt Capewell brought Queensland to within two points at half-time thanks to an unconverted try and the game exploded early in the second half with a mass brawl which saw both teams down to 12 temporarily following sin-binnings for Dane Gagai and Matt Burton.
The Maroons were able to slowly turn the screw in the second half on the back of skipper Daly Cherry-Evans' superb kicking game though, with Kalyn Ponga's first Origin try restoring their lead before Hunt's score in the closing stages sealed the win and Queensland's first series triumph since 2020.
Story of the game
History was with the home side going into this match, with New South Wales having won only two of 12 previous series deciders played on enemy territory.
Even by Origin standards, it was an intense start to the contest and both teams suffered early injury blows. New South Wales lost Cameron Murray in just the second minute while Queensland pair Selwyn Cobbo and Lindsay Collins were forced off too, with all three failing head injury assessments.
But despite those early losses, it was the Maroons who took the lead after debutant half-back Tom Dearden fed North Queensland Cowboys team-mate Holmes for the centre to burst through for his 11th try in 13 Origin appearances.
The Blues rallied after that early score and hit back in the 19th minute as Penrith Panthers halves Nathan Cleary and Luai combined. The former put through a superb grubber which the latter chased down to score from, followed by Cleary converting.
The visitors then hit the front with 32 minutes on the clock thanks to newcomer Saifiti, who ran a smart line back inside to take an offload from Api Koroisau and score under the posts to give Cleary a simple conversion.
Queensland were back in it on the stroke of half-time though as they built an attack which ended when Harry Grant spun out of dummy-half and put through a kick which bounced kindly for second row Capewell to finish for an unconverted score.
The intensity ratcheted up even more after the break when a mass brawl exploded following Gagai's late hit off the ball in back-play while Cherry-Evans had a possible try ruled out. The Queenslander was sin-binned for that offence, as was NSW's Burton for his part in sparking the confrontation.
Josh Papalii had a possible score chalked off too for a knock-on in the build-up as the hosts began to build pressure on New South Wales' try-line, but it finally told just after the hour as full-back Ponga sliced through the defence after taking a pass from Cherry-Evans, with Holmes adding the extras.
The Blues tried everything to open up the defence, but the Maroons were not to be denied and the final nail in the coffin came when Hunt kept hold of the ball after charging down Cleary's kick and raced away from inside his own half to score and bring the Origin shield back to Queensland for the 23rd time.
