Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'It's very hard to do as you can see': Why NSW Blues are up against it in Origin III

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

NSW will head out onto Suncorp Stadium for Wednesday night’s State of Origin decider with everything against them.

ADVERTISEMENT

With 52,000 Queensland fans cheering on the home team, the Blues face an almighty battle and record despite the absence of COVID-affected Maroons playmaker Cameron Munster.

NSW sides have won just two of 12 in series-deciding games in Queensland.

It’s why former Blues great Andrew Johns recently described winning game three in Brisbane as the hardest challenge any New South Welshman could face.

Johns achieved the feat in 2005 and the only other side to have done so was the 1994 Blues team.

NSW were visited by the heroes of those years this week and have been given constant reminders throughout this series by the fact Danny Buderus (2005) and Paul McGregor and Paul Sironen (1994) form part of coach Brad Fittler’s backroom staff.

“There was a lot of pressure,” Sironen told AAP.

“It’s very hard to do as you can see in the last sort of 25 to 30 years it hasn’t been done very often.

“We had the core of a very good side and we had won the previous two series under Phil Gould.

“I think we all knew the role we had to play.

“It’s a huge challenge for this group of men but I’ve got every confidence they can do it.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Related

The similarities between 1994 and 2022 are striking.

NSW had lost at home to open the series and they had to go to a neutral venue to get level in game two.

“We thought we had game one under control and as Queenslanders can do they scored late on,” Sironen said.

“It was dour in Melbourne and then we rained on Mal Meninga’s parade in Brisbane for his final Origin game.”

Fittler’s side broke the mould in 2021 when they clinched the series in the opening two games with all three contests being played in Queensland.

ADVERTISEMENT

Their success included a 26-0 drubbing of the Maroons at Suncorp for game two – the first time Queensland had ever been held to nil north of the Tweed – from which Sironen said they should take confidence.

“Our record hasn’t been great prior to last year,” he added. “But it would be nice to go up to Lang Park and hold the shield up there.”

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

F
Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING ‘It’s about his career’: Why NRL star Payne Haas could jump codes ‘It’s about his career’: Why NRL star Payne Haas could jump codes
Search