Rugby: Queensland win thriller

Published on 05/07/2012 00:00

Queensland won a thrilling deciding Origin clash 21-20 against New South Wales at Suncorp Stadium to clinch a historic seventh consecutive series triumph and provide forward Petero Civoniceva with a fitting farewell.

The Maroons bounced back from their 16-12 defeat in Sydney to maintain their stranglehold on the rugby league contest in the 36-year-old Civoniceva’s 33rd and last Origin appearance, but it was a close-run thing. Scrum-half Cooper Cronk was Queensland’s hero with a 40-metre drop goal four minutes from the end after New South Wales had fought back brilliantly to tie the scores.

Blues captain Paul Gallen was reduced to tears at the end while the outcome was also tough on try-scoring twins Brett and Josh Morris and hooker Robbie Farah, who overcame the recent death of his mother to create two of his side’s three tries with inch-perfect kicks. But New South Wales always had trouble coping with the creative flair of stand-off Johnathan Thurston and the counter-attacking threat of full-back Greg Inglis, who proved an outstanding deputy for the injured Billy Slater.