QUEENSLAND 18 12 NEW SOUTH WALES
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Fulltime: That's it. Billy Slater goes out on a high with the W. That was an enthralling encounter given the series was in the bag for the Blues. Both sets of players are shot at the final whistle. All 34 men should be proud of their effort. Great game of footy. Highlights coming up in 15 minutes.
79mins: Peachey kicks on the last and Hunt is there to clean up. That could be it. QLD bring the ball back from their own line with 40 seconds to play.
78mins: Addo-Carr is away for the Blues - great cover from Holmes though saves a try - the Blues still with tackles up to spare on attack.
77mins: Maloney goes for the glory pass but Holmes plucks it out like a World Cup goal keeper to save the Maroons.
76mins: Another repeat set - this time Chambers tries a strip but can't regather, Maroons just holding on.
74mins: Repeat set for the Blues. Gagai saves a try cleaning up a nice kick from Cleary with five Blues players chasing.
72mins: Maroons stave off one attack and now face another as Chambers is pinged for crowding the play the ball. Blues on atack 30m out.
70mins: Superb defence from the Blues wipes out another Maroons attack and now they finally get relief as Maloney earns a penalty. NSW on attack now 40m out.
67mins: Teams exchange a couple of sets. QLD winning the territory battle as NSW struggle to get out of their own half.
65mins: Game opening up now. Gagai creates an overlap for Oates who drops the ball in a heavy double-tackle on halfway. Criminal.
63mins: Mistake from Oates gifts the ball to NSW 30m out but they can't captalise as Klemmer is pinged for tripping Ben Hunt as they looked to score on the second tackle.
62mins: Comes to nothing as Hunt's last tackle kick is poor and Tedesco has time to bring the ball back a good 15m.
61mins: A couple sets exchanged. Now Gagai is away for the Maroons down the right. He runs a good 50m before he is dragged down by Klemmer.
57mins: TRY Queensland - Daly Cherry-Evans - Munster snakes through the middle of the ruck with some fleet of foot, he beats a couple NSW defenders and finds Cooper in support who draws Tedesco and Cherry-Evans scores under the black dot. Great try from the Maroons. Cherry-Evans deserved that - he has been superb. Holmes makes no mistake. QLD 18-12.
55mins: Slater creates a half chance for Queensland from halfway - great run and he finds Munster on his inside shoulder who in turn finds Gagai but great cover from Roberts. Tedesco covers the kick well and the Blues get the ball back.
51mins: TRY Queensland - Valentine Holmes: Finally the Maroons create an overlap. Nice interplay in passing between Slater, Cherry-Evans and Chambers, Mitchell comes in when he should have stayed out and Chambers draws Addo-Carr and Holmes score his second in the corner. Great finish from the Sharks winger. He can't add the extra two and we are all tied up. QLD 12 - NSW 12.
50mins: Penalty Queensland. Tariq Sims proves he is an actual idiot as he gives away a stupid penalty taking out the marker. He was hammered in the initial tackle from Chambers and Hunt and took his frustration out on Hunt. Just dumb.
48mins: More superb defence from the Blues. QLD look to have run out of ideas. Chambers knocks the ball on in a tackle from Mitchell and Addo-Carr and NSW will have a scrum.
47mins: The will get another set here. Nathan Cleary ruled offside on tackle 4. Fresh set of tackles for QLD.
46mins: Mistake from the Blues - Mitchell fires a wayward pass down the left hand side that Addo-Carr can't collect. Scrum Queensland 40m out.
45mins: Teams exchange a couple sets. NSW with the upperhand.
43mins: Well done Josh Maguire. Little dab kick from Cook but Maguire is there to snap it up.
41mins: Superb set from the Blues. Gained metres at ease through Sims and Klemmer, Maloney on the last finds space in the in-goal but Slater cleans it up well. Repeat set for the Blues..
Second-half: We are back underway for the second stanza. NSW have the ball.
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Halftime wrap: All Queensland for 35 odd-minutes but they could only muster one try - and that was a 90m intercept effort from Holmes. Brilliant defence from the Blues and the probably earned that lead through their defensive efforts. QLD will be a little shellshocked after dominating for the majority. Be back shortly.
40mins:TRY New South Wales - James Tedesco: Wow! Just wow. 70 percent of the ball and QLD trail by four points at halftime. Cook from dummy half, draws in the defence and Tedesco ghosts through a huge hole. 12 men on the park and 12 points scored in nine-minutes. NSW 12-8.
39mins: NSW have a final chance for points here. On attack with a full set of tackles and a minute to play.
37mins: TRY New South Wales - Tom Trbojevic: Another intercept. Cameron Munster throws a long cutout pass but it lands squarely in the hands of 'Turbo Tom' he races away to score. As with the Holmes try earlier, that was a QLD try in the corner if Munster finds his man. Nathan Cleary adds the extras. QLD 8-6.
36mins: Another QLD penalty for holding down. Oates earned that one for his side. Maroons on the attack 30m out.
35mins: First poor kick from Cherry-Evans as Trbojevic rises above the rest to take a high ball inside the goaline. 20m restart for the Blues.
33mins: NSW get the ball for the first time in 11 minutes as Tedesco brings the ball back.
31mins: Holmes kicks an easy two-points but thats a net win for the Blues given 10mins of QLD ball inside the NSW half. QLD 8-0.
30mins: Could be a penalty try here. Billy Slater looked like he was taken out off a kick from Munster. No penalty try given as there were a few defenders around and the ball hit the post - Maloney has copped 10mins in the bin for that and QLD will attack here against 12. This has been a magnificent defensive effort from NSW.
29mins: Another repeat set. This is incredible. Cherry-Evans again with a a great kick as Tedesco knocks it over the deadball line. Slater went close again in that set for the Maroons.
27mins: Another repeat set! Munster earns it this time. They can't break this defensive wall that the Blues have put up. Slater and Oates went close in that set.
26mins: Scrum for Queensland. Slater with a kick that goes straight into Maloney and then Cordner collects the rebound but it's ruled accidental offside. Blues continue to defend well.
24mins: Another repeat set for Queensland. Cherry-Evans with a superb kick. Cleary does well on defence to collect it. This is all Marooons but the defence from the Blues has been excellent as the knock back wave after wave.
22mins: Another penalty for Queensland. Roberts holding Chambers down too long in the tackle and the Maroons will attack from 20m out.
20mins: NSW go close. Nice high ball from Cleary, Corey Oates climbs high for the Maroons but is beaten to it by Trbojevic but he loses the ball forward as Tedesco collects the rebound and crosses the line; knock on ruled.
18mins: Kaufusi with a nice weaving run almost gets to the line - he offloads but it finds Maloney and NSW are let off the hook.
16mins: Repeat set for QLD. Chambers with a nice little grubber - well collected by Tedesco but he is well tackled by Chambers.
15mins: McCullough earns his side a penalty after a nice run from dummy half. Maroons on the attack again.
14mins: Teams exchange a couple of regulation sets with not much to report.
11mins: TRY QUEENSLAND - Valentine Holmes - Intercept from the flying winger as he sprints all-but 95m for the opener. Tedesco with the wayward pass, although Addo-Carr scores if Holmes doesn't snatch that one. Holmes from wide out nails it. QLD 6-0.
10mins: Cook breaks free from dummy half and he is away - over the Queensland half and gets to the 40 before Munster collects him.
9mins: Vaughan produces a stinging tackle on Jai Arrow and he losses the ball forward with the Maroons hot on attack.
8mins: Cherry-Evans showing off his kicking game. Lovely weighted kick earns his side a repeat set as Addo-Carr forces it.
6mins: Will Chambers with the one on one strip on Maloney and Queensland have the ball in good field position.
5mins: Valentine Holmes does brilliantly well to collect a towering bomb from Maloney. Bit of an arm wrestle at the moment.
4mins: Slater thinks he has scored from a high ball from Cherry-Evans but the TMO rules he lost the bal forward in the contest with Cleary. NSW get the ball on their own 5m line.
2min: First penalty - Mitchell pinged for a shoulder charge on Billy Slater. Maroons on attack from 40m out.
1min: Great set from the homeside. Tedesco hammered in a three man tackle on his 10m line as NSW get the ball for the first time.
Kick off: It'll be James Maloney to get us underway - Papalii brings the ball back for the Maroons.
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10.11pm: Anthem time.
10.09pm: Billy Slater leads out the Maroons in his final Origin clash.
10.08pm: Out come the Blues - not much love given lol.
10pm: Alot of talk in the last week from former Blues players that Queensland are for the taking - interesting narrative given 12 of the last 13 series losses. Think the Blues alumni such as Mitchell Pierce and Steve Roach should hold their opinion for a few more years - just a thought.
9.50pm: Maroons legend Cameron Smith getting a special presentation at the moment - he retired from rep footy two months ago.
9.40pm: Seven times the Blues have arrived in Brisbane with 2-0 lead but have only completed the sweep twice.
It may be a dead rubber but Game III of the 2018 State of Origin series means a lot for Billy Slater who will play his final representative game tonight.
We should be looking at 10.15pm kick off time tonight.
NSW Blues:
1 James Tedesco, 2 Tom Trbojevic, 3 Latrell Mitchell, 4 James Roberts, 5 Josh Addo-Carr, 6 James Maloney, 7 Nathan Cleary, 8 David Klemmer, 9 Damien Cook, 10 Paul Vaughan, 11 Boyd Cordner (c), 12 Tyson Frizell, 13 Jack de Belin.
Interchange: 14 Tariq Sims, 15 Jake Trbojevic, 16 Angus Crichton, 17 Tyrone Peachey. 18th man: Ryan James
Queensland Maroons:
1 Billy Slater (c), 2 Valentine Holmes, 3 Dane Gagai, 4 Will Chambers, 5 Corey Oates, 6 Cameron Munster, 7 Daly Cherry-Evans, 8 Jai Arrow, 9 Andrew McCullough, 10 Josh Papalii, 11 Gavin Cooper, 12 Felise Kaufusi, 13 Josh McGuire.
Interchange: 14 Ben Hunt, 15 Jarrod Wallace, 16 Coen Hess, 17 Tim Glasby.
Newshub.
