BRISBANE, Australia—This was the first time that I watched a rugby league match in Queensland’s magical ninth-titular triumph in 10 years via a record breaking 52-6 demolition of New South Wales (NSW) in State of Origin history on Thursday night at Suncorp Stadium.
Awesome may not be an apt word to describe the masterpiece produced by the marauding Maroons (Queensland) in routing the Blues (NSW), because the game was a powerhouse performance that showcased mental fortitude, leadership, toughness and history.
It was also a beautiful fusion of old and new, and the decider for the Origin shield (trophy) was turned into a brutal murder by the Maroons, who defied creeping age and retirement to hammer out a record score, record margin and record ninth title before a record ground crowd of 52,500.
I was totally overwhelmed by the highly-physical game that combined class and courage, as the ageless marvels, making the core of the Queensland’s offensive, played like they were in their teens tormenting NSW’s supposedly world-beating forwards by running them to the point of exhaustion.
Honestly, I knew not much of rugby’s complicated rules, but the beauty of the game was displayed in the crushing tackles, blazing runs and pinpoint passes amid a phalanx of tight defenders who were like Sherman tanks patrolling the frontlines.
Yet, tempers never flared up in the thick of unmitigated flogging and bone-cracking wrestling on that night of melodrama and milestone, as Maroons’ superstar Jonathan Thurston became the first player in Origin history to amass 200 career points after adding nine two-pointers.
Queensland center Justin Hodges, who retired as a champion, capped his stunning career by setting up one of the great tries to spark a night of mass celebration, and skipper Cameron Smith overcame a fall-out from a raging TV interview that slandered his person to lead his team to victory.
The buildup to the game was marked by weeklong media hype and trash talks, and marred by explosive allegations of former Newcastle Knights forward Alex McKinnon against Smith over an incident 12 months ago that left the former wheelchair-bound.
Maroons Coach Mal Maninga, who received the biggest gift on his 55th birthday, lauded Smith’s champion qualities by brushing aside the McKinnon saga and an early NSW uprising to lead a blinding overdrive that sent Queensland to a comfortable, 22-2, halftime lead. Veteran forward Corey Parker, who was named player of the series at age 33, defied the sceptics as he made six tackle busts, four offloads and 130 meters in the decider, and Arthur Beetson produced similar miracles to rip off the NSW shaky defense.
Maninga is considered as a father figure, a friend, a confidante and the leader, who created a winning culture by putting fun in the fundamentals of the game. Exactly 35 years ago, as he celebrated his 20th birthday, Maninga scored the first points in State of Origin history.
This night, the Maninga dynasty was kept alive, and Queensland again became one big happy family of more than 4 million, drowning and forgetting criticisms that ensued following the Maroons earlier loss to the Blues in Sydney to force the decider.
From Maninga’s mask to painted faces in the jampacked Suncorp stadium, cafés, bars and parks, and even Filipino mayors attending a governance summit in Brisbane, the Origin victory demonstrated to the fullest the Queenslanders’s rich tradition of solidarity and team work.
Unlike the fancy-clad American footballers, rugby players do not wear protective gears when they collide like cold, heartless gladiators. They even tap each other’s back after a tackled opponent walks away with a neck brace or a broken rib and a disfigured face.
Such, was the intensity of the game that McKinnon suffered a paralysis following a lifting tackle that the sight of Parker being lifted perpendicular to the ground head first drew a deafening roar of disapproval from the emotionally charged crowd.
Certainly, rugby is not for the faint-hearted or the hot-tempered. Nor for us at home, because our toughies in this kind of a brawl, or a bruising melee for that matter, would surely mix it up in a bare-knuckle matchup unable to replace grunt with glamour.
It’s amazing how these rugby attackers could keep their tempers in check and lower their fists in submission, as they squeezed through a wall of clashing bodies in hard tackles or in fielding grubber kicks, or short and long kicks that found no space and brought no result.
Or a beaten pack that is outpaced for a solo touchdown, or loses a point for a number of times a forearm is shoved into the enemy’s throats. NSW was the same old, ill-disciplined, bad tackling and short-tempered crew that exposed every weakness in the team.
The Blues, who crumbled like a deck of cards, finished the game with 27 missed tackles. Before the match, they were just a few feet away from Mount Everest. After the turmoil, they proved to be an embarrassment, their bleeding backsides slumping on the floor of the valley.
The heroes of Queensland were derided as “too old, too slow, past their best,” and nearing an end of an era. But rugby could produce miracles, like a fairytale ending, starring the Queensland’s great characters and career fight backs, and, retiring champions who built an awesome defense.