June 11, 2008

QUEENSLAND coach Mal Meninga described it as 80 minutes of rugby league perfection.

For centre Greg Inglis it was 80 minutes of redemption as the Maroons sent this year's Origin series to a decider with a 30-0 annihilation of New South Wales at Suncorp Stadium.

Embarrassed in game I, Inglis turned it on with a performance which will go down in Origin folklore, his brutal left hand fend shutting the Blues out of the contest and keeping alive Queensland's bid for a hattrick of series wins.

Written off before the match, the Maroons turned up with a purpose not seen in game one, while the Blues were never in the contest.

It left them in need of a stunning revival in game three at ANZ Stadium on July 2 after they became just the second NSW side after the 1995 outfit to be shut-out in an Origin contest.

The winning margin equalled the Maroons best ever, while five-eighth Johnathan Thurston burst out of a slump and equalled Meninga's Queensland record of seven goals from as many attempts.

But the night was about Inglis and his lucky beneficiary Darius Boys, who scored two tries on debut as his inside man embarrassed NSW centre Mark Gasnier in a table turning effort from game one.

“We struggled as a team to get the ball to him (in game I),” skipper Cameron Smith said.

“But I thought our forwards got away to a good start and Greg saw more open spaces and showed what he could do.”

Asked about the turnaround from game I, Meninga said it was all in the head.

“Attitude, mentally we were right to go,” he said.

“We had a fantastic week with the team, I was disappointed with our effort after Origin I, but we responded well to the criticism and came up with a fantastic performance.

“It was near the perfect footy game.”

Inglis waited just seven minutes to make up for his game one shocker, with Gasnier the victim of a fend which left him lying hapless on the turf. But it had nothing on the facial Inglis delivered Blues debutant Steve Turner before passing for Boyd's memorable moment.

Boyd must have been thinking all his Christmas had come at once with Inglis again doing all the work for the Broncos youngster's double inside 20 minutes.

“It was good, Gaz got one on me and I got one on him and we take it down to game III now,” man of the match Inglis said.

“It's quite difficult winning down there, we've only won one game down there the past few years, hopefully we can keep our performance up and take it on to the next one.”

Watching Inglis at close range in the NRL every week, Blues coach Craig Bellamy said he knew it was coming.

“It was probably the best game of the year from him, but he didn't need to do it (here),” Bellamy said.

“He's never far from one of those performances every time he takes the field. That showed the talent he's got.”

Boyd almost had three inside half an hour thanks to Inglis only for a Brett Stewart cover tackle to bring the movement to an end, a penalty goal to Thurston and another two either side of the break make it a comfortable 18-0 lead.

NSW had nothing in reply, the Peter Wallace-Greg Bird halves combination ineffective behind a badly beaten pack.

Bellamy's claim that the Maroons were wasting their breath 'whinging' about referee Tony Archer's game I performance came back to haunt him, Queensland receiving a penalty on just the third tackle of the game.

After blowing just six penalties in the series opener, Archer whistled 16 in Brisbane, including nine for the Maroons who loved the up-tempo style.

Asked if it was a case of the squeaky wheel getting the oil, Bellamy said: “They got a lot of oil. There were different interpretations, but Queensland were too good on the night.”

It turned into party mode over the final 20 minutes with Ben Hannant and then Israel Folau crossing for tries as Thurston made it a perfect seven from seven with the boot.