Almanac Rugby League – Five Metre Gap: Origin II, 2016

@hamishneal

Like the way of the five metre gap in defence looking at the points you may have missed from the second game of the State of Origin series. Queensland claimed the shield with a 26-16 victory in Brisbane. Unlike our normal column you likely saw the contest but here are some things we have picked out from the fixture which gives Queensland victory in ten of the last 11 inter-state series.

 

The result was almost a foregone conclusion, statistically at least, at the break with Queensland leading 10-4 as the home side possess a 25-1 win-loss record when leading at half-time in games played in Brisbane. Despite the Blues scoring two tries in the second stanza, as they did in game two last season, Kevin Walters’ side was the superior outfit with winger Dane Gagai becoming the fifth player in history to score a try in each of his first three games in Origin. The Newcastle back eventually dotted down three times.

 

Signalled before the game as having a bigger influence in terms of game time NSW forward Andrew Fifita failed to repeat his game one exploits making only 59 metres. By way of comparison in game one he made 109 metres in 24 minutes from 12 runs with an impressive three offloads. The Sharks forward was by no means the only Blues forward to disappoint with only Aaron Woods 117 metres) cracking the 100 metre mark.

 

Queensland forward Josh McGuire made 94 metres in nine runs to top the engine room effort in the first half of game two and finished with 128 metres as one of the best for the Maroons. Having announced his retirement during the week Brisbane forward Corey Parker with 150 metres from 16 runs to go with his 26 tackles was hugely impressive.

 

With Dylan Walker having played for Australia at right centre and also having won a grand final in that position Blues coach Laurie Daley placed his faith in the Manly player to fill the role when Josh Morris was ruled out but early on Walker was disappointing conceding four penalties in 17 minutes. To go with his attempt to milk a penalty during his nine-minute cameo in game one that meant Walker had made five bad decisions in 26 minutes of Origin football. You could make an argument two of the penalties Walker conceded close to the line were loose carries but even three bad decisions in that period is poor.

 

That said Walker wasn’t the only Blues outside back to have a bad night with fellow centre Michael Jennings making errors which were responsible for two Queensland tries plus two handling errors, admittedly when looking to score himself, which meant two potential Blues tries were ruled out. Queensland will now head to game three at ANZ Stadium on July 13 seeking their first series clean sweep since 2010 having confirmed the series win after two games for only the eighth time. But it wasn’t all bad for NSW on the night – they did win the Under 18s game 26-0.

 

This review first appeared on From the sideline of sport