1981 State of Origin game: Difference between revisions

The '''1981 State of Origin game''' was the second such match between arch rivals [[Queensland rugby league team|Queensland]] and [[New South Wales rugby league team|New South Wales]], to be played under [[State of Origin selection rules]]. Again it was played as the third game of an already-decided 3-game series. New South Wales' victories in the first two games under the "state of residency" selection rules were, however, the last matches of this kind to ever be played as the following year the Origin concept was fully embraced.

The match{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} featured a stunning comeback by the Maroons, an all-in-brawl, a 95-metre try by [[Eric Grothe, Sr.]] and the second consecutive man-of-the-match performance from Queensland three-quarter backcentre, [[Chris Close]].

With rugby league officials from NSW still not convinced of the State of Origin format, the 1980 model was repeated in 1981 when the first two matches were played under the old residential selection criteria. With the confidence gained from the 1980 Origin win, the Queensland residents were more competitive than they had been in years, losing 10-210–2 at [[Lang Park]] and 22-922–9 at [[Leichhardt Oval]], forwith New South Wales to taketaking the series before the third match reverted to the new Origin selection criteria and the intensity again picked up.

Queensland chose to call on only four Sydney-based players for the game - winger [[Mitch Brennan]] from [[South Sydney Rabbitohs|South Sydney]], second-rower [[Paul McCabe]] from [[Sydney Roosters|Easts]] and front-rowers [[Rod Morris]] ([[Balmain Tigers|Balmain]]) and [[Paul Khan]] ([[Cronulla Sharks|Cronulla]]). Maroons Captaincaptain-coach [[Arthur Beetson]], who was seeing out his playing days at age 36 with [[Redcliffe Dolphins|Redcliffe]], had been in fine form for the two residential clashes, but pulled out with an eye injury on the day of the match, giving the Queensland captaincy to 21-year-old five-eighth [[Wally Lewis]]. Beetson later told the real reason he pulled out of the game was that he had lost the motivation to keep playing representative football after being overlooked for the test series against France. Beetson was reportedly in line for his first test since the [[1977 Rugby League World Cup|1977 World Cup]], but NSWRL and ARL boss [[Kevin Humphreys (rugby league)|Kevin Humphreys]] voted against Beetson's selection with a view to the future and the [[Kangaroo Tour]] to be held at the end of [[1982 Kangaroo tour|1982]]. Humphreys felt that at 36 Beetson had nothing left to offer the test side.

[[Parramatta Eels]] halfback Sterling, who had represented City Seconds earlier in the season, was a surprise choice over incumbent test halfback [[Steve Mortimer]] who had made his test debut a few weeks earlier against France. Mortimer reportedly paid the price for the Australia's less than convincing 17-217–2 second test win against the weak French at Lang Park despite having led Australia to a comprehensive 43-243–2 win in the first test at the [[Sydney Cricket Ground]] where he scored two tries on debut. The [[Canterbury Bulldogs|Canterbury-Bankstown]] halfback, who had played in the two State of Residence games that had preceded both the French tests and the Origin game, described his demotion as ''"A nice kick in the guts."''

|team1 = [[File:Queensland colours.svg|16px]] [[Queensland State of Origin Team|Queensland]] |

Opposing props Rod Morris and [[Newtown Jets|Newtown]]'s [[Steve Bowden]] clashed in an early tackle, following an errant elbow from Bowden, and punches were thrown. In the ensuing melee, Lewis sought out Terry Lamb and gave him a rugged welcome to interstate football with a number of uppercuts. After 7 minutes of play, the next scrum erupted into a brawl with Bowden and Morris singled out by referee Kevin Steele as the chief instigators, with both then sent to the [[penalty box|sin-bin]] for 10 minutes (though replays indicated that Morris had done most of the punching with Bowden unusually restrained) with NSW receiving a penalty. In that period the Blues raced to a 15-015–0 lead thanks to their Parramatta connection of Peter Sterling, [[Ray Price (rugby footballer)|Ray Price]], [[Eric Grothe, Sr.|Eric Grothe]] and [[Mick Cronin (rugby league)|Mick Cronin]], with Price and Sterling setting up one try for Grothe and another for Cronin (all four players would later that year feature in the Eels' inaugural premiership victory). This was the second of Grothe's tries for the game, the first came after 13 minutes when he swooped upon a wayward pass by Maroons' [[Hooker (rugby league)|hooker]] [[Greg Conescu]] and raced 95-metres down the touchline, easily out pacing his opposite number [[Mitch Brennan]] and Qld halfback [[Ross Henrick]] before busting through the cover defending tackles of [[Brad Backer]] (coming from the opposite wing) and [[Colin Scott (rugby league)|Colin Scott]] to score in the corner to give the Blues a 5-05–0 lead after Cronin's sideline conversion. Backer's tackle had actually caused Grothe to fall and he looked to have stopped less than half a metre short, but Scott's subsequent effort hitting the Blues winger as he hit the ground actually dragged him over the line for the try. Soon after Price sent Sterling through a big gap in the defence and he found Cronin backing up on his outside to score. After Cronin converted his own try, NSW led 10-010–0 after just 16 minutes. Grothe scored his second try moments later after Henrick was penalised for not retiring behind a scrum. A simple run-around move saw Sterling pass to price Price who sent his winger bursting through a weak [[Chris Phelan]] tackle to score under the posts.

With the score 15-015–0 after less than 20 minutes it looked like the days of old with NSW dominating. However, Queensland's defence stiffened, and they took back some momentum just before half-time when winger Backer grabbed a try in the corner off a long pass from McCabe to make it 15-515–5. NSW had been running the ball our from their own line but lost possession when second rower [[Les Boyd]], thinking he was a decoy runner and not paying attention, didn't realise the ball was being thrown to him. The ball bounced forward off his hip and was regathered by Queensland who scored through Backer just 3 tackles later.

Following the break, new Queensland captain Wally Lewis sparked a second-half Maroons revival when he stepped past Sterling and went on a long, diagonal run, breaking a late attempt at tackle by Ray Price to score a dazzling (and much-replayed) individual try. Barry Ross told television viewers that Lewis had told him earlier in the day that he was motivated to play well after receiving criticism from the Sydney media for both his selection in the Australian team and his supposedly lacklustre form in the tests against France. The media had wanted City and NSW state of residence games Fivefive-eighth [[Robert Laurie (rugby league)|Robert Laurie]] in the test team instead of Lewis who they felt was only selected to give the [[Queensland Rugby League]] a player in the team. There were 5 Queenslander'sQueenslanders in the first test team, but Lewis was the only one not playing in the Sydney premiership.

Minutes after the restart came an enduring moment that has become part of Origin folklore. Queensland fullback Colin Scott received a pass from Lewis off the scrum near halfway and split the defence, bursting past NSW captain Steve Rogers in a 55-metre charge that ended just short of the line thanks to a despairing tackle by Grothe (who had started almost 10 metres behind Scott when he started the chase, showcasing his speed as Scott was no slouch). Grothe clung to Scott's ankles as he waited for his team matesteammates to get back in defence, but in a now-famous image, Maroons centre [[Chris Close]] grabbed Grothe's hair before backhanding him out of the way. Close then picked up the ball from dummy-half and dived through Steve Rogers tackle to score next to the posts. Other NSW players would later claim they hung back from tackling Close as they expected to receive a penalty for the back hander and were surprised when it never came (there were claims that Grothe had injured himself when he tackled Scott, though Close disputes this saying he first yelled at Grothe to let go before back handing him when he didn't move).<ref>{{cite book

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