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New South Wales staged one of the greatest comebacks in the state’s majors history after dismissing Queensland’s Cailin Ponga as the Blues won in a dramatic opening game of this year’s series.
Ponga became the seventh player to be sent off in an Origin match when he was sent off for a high tackle on wing Tolutau Kaula with 23 minutes to play and the full-back’s side leading 20-6.
NSW half-backs Ethan Strange and Nathan Cleary then scored tries, the latter converting, reducing the deficit to 20–16 and setting up a grandstand finish at Sydney’s Acre Stadium.
The 12-man Maroons defended valiantly and looked to resist the Blues’ pressure but in the 78th minute veteran James Tedesco grabbed Cleary’s superb high kick beyond stand-in full-back Hamiso Tabuai-Fido and grounded the ball to level the scores.
It presented Cleary with a relatively straightforward conversion and, after a false start that added to the tension, he stroked the ball into the rain to seal victory in the first game of the best-of-three series.
The second match will be played at Melbourne Cricket Ground on 17 June and the third match will be played at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on 8 July.
