Live from Suncorp Stadium it’s game three of the 2012 State of Origin series! Live from our living rooms it’s the Pedestrian State of Origin live blog! Can Queensland make history with seven series wins in a row? Or will New South Wales prevail for the first time since Twitter was invented? Below, join us for comprehensive coverage of the game and the Phil Gould inspiration monologues within…
7:40 – Toot! Toot! Here comes the hyperbole train. Ken Sutcliffe calls this is “the biggest game of rugby league in history.” Really?
7:45 – What’s worse? Darren Lockyer the broadcaster or John Hopoate the PSA agent? He sounds like Macy Gray after an asthma attack.
7:50 – The pre-match entertainment is provided by Voice winner Karise Eden who sings a musical tribute to late Queensland great Arthur Beetson. And so begins the masturbatory Channel Nine promotion.
8:00 – Speaking of masturbation, we cut to commercial with a circle jerk for soon to be retired Queensland prop Petero Civoniceva. The 36 year old plays his final State of Origin match tonight and teammate Sam Thaiday sends him off with a metaphoric face jizzing.
7:55 – Sterlo didn’t get the bias tie colour memo. HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHICH TEAM YOU GO FOR?
8:06 – Temper Trap sync alert!
8:12 – Maybe we hyped it up too much but Phil Gould’s pre-match inspiration monologue feels muted. He shouts out Arthur Beetson but fails to use the words historic, legacy or passion. A missed opportunity for the “biggest game in rugby league history”.
8:20 – Underwhelmed again. Darren Percival sings a thoroughly meh version of the national anthem.
8:24 – Brent Tate gets away with a punch to the head but the penalty somehow goes against the Blues. Very sneaky, Brent.
8:28 – New South Wales: 2 Queensland: 0 – Brett Morris breaks a Sam Thaiday tackle which leads to an offside call against Queensland. Todd Carney coolly slots home the penalty to give New South Wales the lead.
8:35 – New South Wales: 8 Queensland: 0 – Brett Morris looks to have scored but Queensland may have Matt Sing-ed him on the try line. It goes to the video referee who calls it a try. Carney slots it home again and the Blues take an early 8-0 lead.
8:45 – New South Wales: 8 Queensland: 4 – Wow, that didn’t last long. Darius Boyd closes the gap with a quickfire overlap on the wing. Thurston hooks the conversion left. 8 plays 4.
8:50 – You fucked up Hodges. A QLD chance goes begging after J-Hodge passes to a Blues player metres out from his try line. Hoooodddddgggeessss!!!!
8:53 – Ben Creagh goes off with the blood rule and we count down the milliseconds til Rabs says the word “claret”.
9:00 – New South Wales: 8 Queensland: 8 – Jonathan Thurston equalizes!
9:01 New South Wales: 8 Queensland: 10 – Thurston breaks the line with a dummy then eats 40 metres of turf before offloading to Tate who finds Cronk who is tackled fifteen out from the try line. Thurston finishes what he started and burrows through a broken NSW defence to score the equalizer.
9:03 – Five minutes to go. We are now entering the danger zone.
9:05 – The danger zone strikes again!
9:06 – New South Wales: 8 Queensland: 16 – Hodges redeems himself with a try which has the tiniest hint of shepherd about it. The video ref calls it good, Gould blows a gasket and Thurston converts again. You done good Hodgey.
9:18 – The King admits that the Hodges try was dubious. Do we have another controversy on our hands?
9:26 – Rabs spruiks the US version of The Voice and deploys a truly terrible Maroons/Maroon 5 dad joke. Never change Rabs.
9:30 – And we have the first falcon of the game!
9:36 – New South Wales: 14 Queensland: 16 – Try! Brett Stewart wins the race to a Robbie Farrah grubber and the blues are within two!
9:40 – New South Wales: 14 Queensland: 18 – The Blues give up a penalty within kicking distance. The Maroons go the safe option and Thurston extends the lead by two.
9:45 – Inglis is denied by the post! A Cameron Smith line break puts the fullback through on goal only to be denied by the goalposts. The Blues dodge a bullet.
9:53 – New South Wales: 14 Queensland: 20 – A high shot on Cronk leads to another penalty kick. Queensland by six.
10:02 – New South Wales: 20 Queensland: 20 – Try! Morris out leaps Boyd to take a cross-field bomb to the corner. It goes to the man upstairs who calls it good. Carney converts from the sideline to make it 20 all. Game on.
10:07 – New South Wales: 20 Queensland: 21 – Cronk snatches back the lead with a penetrating field goal. Suncorp goes crazy!
10:10 – HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT!
10:14 – Pearce misses the field goal attempt to equal. Surely that’s it.
10:15 – Game over. Queensland win again and make it seven in a row. WHAT. A. GAME.
Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images Sport
