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Message: [QUOTE="Broncoman, post: 2616624, member: 7803"] [B]State of Origin Game 3 2007 [/B]The series had been decided but that meant nothing to the players of either state as they turned in a brutal 3rd game that left the Maroon's dressing room looking like a war zone with injured players filling in non stop as the Maroons were reduced to a 14 man team in the end. In the end NSW regained some lost pride and carved out an 18-4 victory ending a 4 game losing streak. The game was a tale of brutal defence, missed opportunities that were turned over by basic handling errors but I feel the game gets a bad wrap about being one of the worst origin encounters. Sure the standard wasn't great but there were some standout performers in both sides, a good contest and some moments to look back on. Inside the first 20 minutes Queensland lost Dallas Johnson at the first tackle of the game and Inglis was forced out with a knee injury but despite this it took 21 minutes for points to be scored after Jarryd Hayne beat 4 defenders to score in the corner. El Masri landed the conversion on debut. The Maroons struck back straight after Gallen threw a forward pass, Queensland capitalised as Hunt sucked in the defence and sent Hodges over unmarked to score but NSW still lead after Thurston hooked the conversion. The score remained unchanged at halftime. The game followed the same script after the break as the injury ridden Maroons held on bravely which was exemplified when Matt Copper went a breath from scoring twice (stopped the first time by Thurston and Hunt and the second time was stopped by Bell less than a meter out). Queensland's depleted bench meant Hunt and Hodges had to play on injured as the Maroons continued to fight bravely and admirably. NSW finally put the Maroons away as Matt King crashed over to score after a poor last tackle option by Lockyer. 3 minutes from the end Paul Gallen charged at the line on the last, was gang tackled but managed to pop an offload to El Masri who planted the ball down and converted his own try for a tally of 10 points and an 18-4 win to NSW. [B]Notes - [/B]This was the only Origin appearance of Hazem El Masri who was the only debutant. I must say his performance turned out quite well and I watched this game quite keen to see how he played as from memory he played a solid game. He played well scoring a try and landing 3 goals all from difficult positions, positioned himself well defensively and did his job on the wing. Wasn't overawed and didn't look out of place. It made my day watching him play this game. Loved Hazem as a person and as a player. - Queensland named an unchanged team for the first time but were forced into late changes. Only once in Origin has a side gone through an entire series unchanged and that was the NSW side of 1996 - Greg Bird was played out of position in the halves but he backed it up with a strong willing performance that won him the MOM award - I don't understand why some say Paul Gallen only shone in rep games in later years. This was his 2nd Origin appearance and I thought he played strongly. Hitting hard in defence and with the ball and managing some offloads and getting through a truckload of work - Dallas Johnson must be congratulated for his performance after being concussed. Made 62 tackles in game 2 and managed 28 in this game. He was a fine player for the Maroons imo and he showed the guts the Maroons played with as they did very well to keep NSW at bay in the second half and could walk out of this game with their heads held high [B]New South Wales 18: [/B]Tries by Jarryd Hayne, Matt King and Hazem El Masri; 3 goals by El Masri [B]Queensland 4: [/B]Try by Justin Hodges [B]Queensland [/B]1: Kharmichael Hunt 2: Brent Tate 3: Steve Bell 4: Justin Hodges 5: Greg Inglis 6: Darren Lockyer (captain) 7: Jonathan Thurston 8: Steve Price 9: Cameron Smith 10: Petero Civoniceva 11: Tonie Carroll 12: Carl Webb 13: Dallas Johnson 14: Shaun Berrigan 15: Nate Myles 16: Matt Bowen 17: Dane Carlaw Coach: Mal Meninga [B]New South Wales [/B]1: Brett Stewart 2: Hazem El Masri 3: Matt King 4: Matt Cooper 5: Jarryd Hayne 6: Greg Bird 7: Brett Kimmorley 8: Brent Kite 9: Danny Buderus (captain) 10: Willie Mason 11: Nathan Hindmarsh 12: Andrew Ryan 13: Paul Gallen 14: Luke Bailey 15: Steve Simpson 16: Ryan Hoffman 17: Kurt Gidley Coach: Graham Murray [/QUOTE]

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