‘NSW is unravelling’: The costly blunders and Cleary ploy that burned Blues

State of Origin is about moments and on Wednesday night, it was Queensland who owned them.

Three plays in particular — scrambling efforts in defence and one piece of Cameron Munster magic — were defining moments that Billy Slater pinpointed in his post-match press conference.

Brad Fittler pointed towards a few late missed opportunities in his and, in a broader sense, the slowing down of the ruck as the difference between the two sides.

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The Moments that won Game 1 for Maroons | 02:18

Skipper James Tedesco echoed those concerns, telling reporters Queensland “didn’t allow” New South Wales “to free space around the ruck” and play with the “freedom” they wanted to.

Naturally, frustration followed and in those moments that could have proven pivotal in turning the tables on the Maroons, the Blues instead rushed plays and gave up unforced errors.

There were two moments — between the 63rd and 65th minute — that summed up just how that added frustration directly led to poor decision-making under pressure.

Take Damien Cook’s wayward pass in the 63rd minute, scooped up by Cameron Munster as the Blues threw away a key opportunity attacking the Queensland line.

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The Blues fell short. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

Cook threatened at times with a few direct runs out of dummy-half but was otherwise guilty of trying too hard, darting left and then right as if he had too many options running through his head.

That is what left the Rabbitohs rake frazzled and eventually turning the ball over in prime attacking field position.

“[An] awful pass here, straight to Munster,” Fox League’s Warren Smith said in commentary.

“New South Wales [is] unravelling. A wild pass from Cook.”

Cooper Cronk said it was a simple case of Cook “overplaying his hand” and “putting himself under pressure” as a result.

Felise Kaufusi did cough the ball up soon after, gifting the Blues another chance to press at the Maroons’ line but once again, New South Wales panicked under pressure.

This time, it was Cameron Murray who popped an offload with Daly Cherry-Evans lurking and the Queensland halfback pounced as the Blues rued another costly turnover.

“Again, forcing the issue, turning it over New South Wales,” Smith said.

“That is because Queensland are forcing the issue, Queensland are frustrating New South Wales,” Braith Anasta added.

“They are panicking, thinking they need to score off every play.”

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There were also a few controversial calls that New South Wales fans and players may point to when dissecting just where things went wrong on Wednesday.

Although even when the Blues had tries overturned by the officials, there were cases when it was only further proof of New South Wales being its own worst enemy.

Take the decision to overrule Junior Paulo’s try in the latter stages of the first half.

Murray was ruled to have stopped in the defensive line, denying Patrick Carrigan a fair chance to stop the Blues prop.

All the Rabbitohs lock had to do was run through the line but he didn’t — yet another example of the Blues lacking execution when they needed it most.

“When you go to the line like that, Cameron Murray had to keep going and let Carrigan get a fair crack at Paulo,” Smith said in commentary.

‘That new rule… cost New South Wales’ | 00:39

Tedesco also had a try pulled up late in the first half after Daniel Tupou was ruled to have thrown the ball forward to the Blues fullback.

While Tedesco was left visibly frustrated as Ashley Klein called the play back, Anasta did not see any reason for the Blues to feel aggrieved by that call in particular.

“Is it forward? Yes it is,” he said.

“A great call from the referee.”

There was slightly more contention surrounding the decision to award Daly Cherry-Evans’ try in the second half, with replays appearing to show Junior Paulo may have been held back in the scrum.

“Paulo gets held back a tiny bit but I’m not sure it’s enough to disallow the try,” Anasta said.

“Usually the front rower covers that space and he plays this game every week Paulo, he knows he needs to release. Collins has his arm on his shoulder. You have to look at this closely.”

Braith on DCE try: ‘They got that wrong’ | 01:44

While Origin is often decided by moments, credit does need to be given to Queensland’s game plan as a whole, which was not just a simple product of slowing down the ruck.

The Maroons’ rushing defensive line, and in particular their work on Blues halfback Nathan Cleary, also suffocated New South Wales into uncharacteristically poor ends to sets.

There were a series of ‘moments’ where Cleary came up with the wrong play on the last tackle, either kicking too deep or not taking the space on offer when the Maroons did drop back.

Speaking on SEN 1170’s ‘The Captain’s Run’, Queensland assistant coach Cameron Smith revealed there was plenty of talk in the sheds at halftime about targeting Cleary.

Nathan Cleary was heavily targeted. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

“He’s a great kicker under pressure because he works hard at that part of his game,” Smith said.

“There was some okay kick pressure in the first half (from Queensland). In the second half, Queensland got to him when he was kicking the ball.

“Which meant that the back three for Queensland, particularly Kalyn Ponga, he was able to get the ball into really good field position. Queensland could transition straight from defence into attack. We had to (go to work on Cleary).”