The Maroons, who led 10-6 at half-time, were forced to play much of the match without back rower Tom Gilbert, who left the field with a dislocated right shoulder in the 19th minute.<\/p>\n
Flegler’s sin-bin in the 68th minute for a high shot on Tom Trbojevic \u2014 who subsequently\u00a0failed an HIA \u2014\u00a0was another challenge, as was losing two-try hero Selwyn Cobbo to injury in the second half, yet once again the Maroons found a way to win.<\/p>\n
Maroons workhouse Reuben Cotter \u2014 in just his second State of Origin appearance \u2014 was a worthy player-of-the-match, leading the tackle count with 48 for the evening.<\/p>\n
The two sides will next meet at Brisbane’s Lang Park on June 21, with the Maroons now in the box seat to retain the series trophy.<\/p>\n
After hostilities threatened to boil over in the early exchanges, it was the Maroons who settled to be the first to get on the scoreboard.<\/p>\n
Camped deep in Blues territory, they\u00a0moved the ball left to find Munster, who placed a well-time grubber kick into the in-goal area.<\/p>\n
A flying Tabuai-Fidow raced through to touch down for the first try in the seventh minute, with Holmes adding the conversion.<\/p>\n
The Maroons extended their lead to 10-0 only three minutes later via a\u00a0Cobbo try in the right-hand corner.<\/p>\n The Blues had a chance of opening their account on the scoreboard in the 20th minute when they were on attack down the right edge.<\/p>\n James Tedesco got over the line, but desperate Maroons defence held the Blues skipper up.<\/p>\n The Maroons repeated the dose again, when Blues back rower Tyson Frizell was denied a try by the bunker after appearing to crash over for a four-pointer.<\/p>\n The Blues finally got on the board in the 32nd minute via a converted try to Liam Martin after he finished\u00a0off some neat lead-up play from his Panthers teammates.<\/p>\n From a midfield play-the-ball, the Blues went left through the hands of Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai, who timed his offload to find Martin running a brilliant line to steam through a hole on his way to the line.<\/p>\n Cleary converted to cut the Maroons lead back to four points.<\/p>\n The Blues continued to apply the pressure in\u00a0attack, having dominated possession late in the half, but the Maroons held their opponents out to stay in front at the break.<\/p>\n However, the Maroons relinquished the lead soon after the resumption of play when Api Koroisau pounced on a loose ball 15 metres out from the line.<\/p>\n Cleary added the extras to establish a 12-10 lead.<\/p>\n The Maroons did not\u00a0bow their heads and as the second half approached the midway mark, they struck back to regain the lead through Cobbo’s second try.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
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