State of Origin Game 3 Result – Queensland 34-24 New South Wales
Queensland won the State of Origin Series on Wednesday(credit: cadland)
Crunch Sports Staff – 6 Jul 2021
Queensland made it sixth successive State of Origin Series wins with a dominant performance against New South Wales in Brisbane.
The Maroons took the series 2-1 thanks to an outstanding performance as skipper Darren Lockyer bowed out of State of Origin a winner.
The Maroons led 24-10 at the break in a half that saw Queensland dominate possession with the Blues only launching two real attacks in 40 minutes.
The opening 20 minutes of the second half were brutal with both side’s putting in some monster hits as defences were well and truly on top, but the Maroons showed their dominance with two quick tries to put them game out of reach for the Blues.
Queensland took the game to New South Wales with Sam Thaiday going close following great work from Lockyer and Billy Slater.
The Maroons hot the front when Johnathan Thurston put in a superb kick to the corner following a great offload from Slater and giant centre Greg Inglis was on hand to touch down in the corner, Thurston’s conversion made the score 6-0.
New South Wales were having no luck when Mitchell Pearce kicked out on the full and the Blues then conceded their sixth drop out of the half.
From that drop out the Maroons were in again after Thaiday raced onto Slater’s delayed ball to crash over, Thurston made it 12-0 as Queensland started to take full control.
A rare break from Lockyer put the Maroons on the front foot once more and after Inglis was halted inches short, Cameron Smith forced his way over from the play-the-ball to score, Thurston was again on target with his third conversion as they led 18-0.
Things went from bad to worse for the Blues when Anthony Minichiello failed to pick up Lockyer’s kick through and Jharal Yow Yeh was on hand to hack on to touch down Queensland’s fourth try, Thurston then made it 24-0.
The Blues eventually saw some ball inside Queensland’s half and they managed to grab two quick tries. The first came three minutes from half-time from Minichiello as he collected an offload from Luke Lewis after the Maroons failed to clear their lines on three occasions. Jamie Soward’s conversion made the score 24-6.
Akuila Uate’s first Origin try on the hooter gave New South Wales a glimmer of hope, Soward failed with the extras as they trailed 24-10 going into the sheds.
Queensland were handed a massive setback when the impressive Thurston went down with a horrific knee injury following a collision with a team-mate and was stretchered off on a Medicab.
The second half was quite brutal and the first score of the second period came on 67 minutes when Lockyer handed the ball to Thaiday who in turn sent a neat offload to Slater for the fullback to grab his 11th Origin try, Smith, who replaced Thurston as kicker, added the extras to make the score 30-10.
Inglis then put the game out of New South Wales’ reach when he brushed off four would-be defenders for his second try of the night, Smith was off target as they now led 34-10.
Despite being 24 points behind the Blues refused to lie down and they were awarded an eight point penalty try as Smith led with his knees as Jarryd Hayne dove over to score, the two conversions from Soward made the score 34-18.
Ben Hannant had a try ruled out for the Maroons before the Blues had the final say when Greg Bird crossed over, Soward’s conversion made the final score 34-24.
The score flattered NSW but it was delight for Lockyer as his team-mates made sure he retired from Origin football a winner.
