New South Wales may have squared the State of Origin series at Sydney's Telstra Stadium last night, but coach Ricky Stuart knows it will all be for nothing if the Blues lose the decider at Suncorp Stadium in three weeks.
On the back of a masterful performance by inspirational halfback
Andrew Johns, NSW beat Queensland 32-22 to lock up the best-of-three series at 1-1.
"This is all a beautiful scene at the moment, but it doesn't mean a thing if we don't win the next one," Stuart said.
The Blues started slowly to fall behind 12-8 at halftime, but found their rhythm after the break as Johns began to dominate proceedings.
His 40-20 kick three minutes into the second period was the spark that ignited the Blues, with Anthony Minichiello's second try of the night just a few minutes later giving the Blues a lead they would never relinquish.
As the Blues forwards started to gain control, Johns gave his speedy backs plenty of ball, with Steve Menzies, forced to play out in the centres due to a groin injury to winger Luke Rooney, and Matt Cooper, going over within the space of 11 minutes to make it 26-12 to the home side.
Stuart credited better ball control in the second half as the difference.
"We didn't control a lot of footy in the first half and kept turning it over," Stuart said.
"We seemed to be rushing a lot of our plays. The second half, there was a bit more control, a bit more patience. I think the 40-20 from Joey gave us a bit of a spark."
Stuart credited Johns' performance, likening his hold on Origin football as similar to that of former Queensland great Wally Lewis.
"For a player to come back and have that kind of bearing on game of football, it is an extremely gifted footy player," Stuart said.
Stuart said there was no way his side would underestimate the Maroons in game three, despite the fact they thoroughly outplayed the visitors last night, with Petero Civoniceva's try on the fulltime siren adding respectability to the scoreline.
"As soon as you do, they'll be very excited," he said.
"If they go in as underdogs up there, we'll be very vulnerable."
As for whether he will stick with the same line-up that played so well, Stuart said there was a lot of time between now and game three for injuries and suspension to alter the make-up of the squad.
- AAP
New South Wales may have squared the State of Origin series at Sydney's Telstra Stadium last night, but coach Ricky Stuart knows it will all be for nothing if the Blues lose the decider at Suncorp Stadium in three weeks.
On the back of a masterful performance by inspirational halfback
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