New South Wales staged the greatest comeback in State of Origin history following the pivotal dismissal of Queensland’s Kalyn Ponga as the Blues won a dramatic opening game of this year’s series.
Ponga became the seventh player to be sent off in Origin matches when he was dismissed for a high tackle on wing Tolutau Koula with 23 minutes left to play and the full-back’s side leading 20-6.
NSW half-backs Ethan Strange and Nathan Cleary then scored tries, with the latter converting his, to reduce the deficit to 20-16 and set up a grandstand finish at Sydney’s Accor Stadium.
The 12-man Maroons defended valiantly and looked to have withstood the Blues’ pressure but in the 78th minute veteran James Tedesco outjumped stand-in full-back Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow to grab Cleary’s superb high kick and ground the ball to tie the scores.
It presented Cleary with a relatively straightforward conversion and, after a false start that increased the tension, he stroked the ball over in the pouring rain to seal victory in the first game of the best-of-three series.
Game two will take place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 17 June with the third match at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on 8 July.
