Sky Blues win Origin II in frantic finish but Maroons lift the trophy

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A last-minute penalty try was enough for NSW to score a dramatic 18-14 victory over Queensland in Townsville on Thursday night, but the Sky Blues fell agonisingly short of denying the Maroons victory in the two-game Women’s State of Origin series.

A penalty try to Yasmin Clydsdale in the dying minutes, awarded after Maroons centre Shenae Ciesiolka kicked the ball out while Clydsdale was attempting to ground the ball, put NSW ahead by two points with 45 seconds left on the clock.

Following the Maroons’ 18-10 victory in Sydney in game one, NSW needed a further six points to level the series aggregate score and retain the trophy. On their final play before full-time a hip-drop tackle on Clydsdale from Romy Teitzel pushed the Blues into Maroons territory for their final play.

But the Sky Blues couldn’t score on their Hail Mary play as the siren sounded. Cue wild celebrations from the Queenslanders as they won the series by just four points in front of a record crowd of 18,275.

“I think we’re both really confused on how to feel at the moment,” said NSW coach Kylie Hilder after the game.

“We’ve just won a game of Origin in Queensland, which is massive, and it was such a battle and such a great game, but you still feel so defeated because we’ve lost a two-game Origin series by four points,” Hilder said.

Isabelle Kelly takes on the Maroons defence.Credit: Getty

Ahead of the game, Hilder shut-down suggestions her team would be focussed on how many points they needed to win by to retain the series.

But you couldn’t help but speculate whether that was true, after NSW took penalty kicks instead of fresh sets in crucial moments of the game when the momentum was in the favour.

However, Hilder backed her team’s decision to take the points when they presented to the team.

“It’s Origin – you’ve got to take the points when we can and if we didn’t take those points, then we might not have won that game,” Hilder said.

Queensland’s players celebrate after clinching the two-game series.Credit: Getty

Having missed game one with a hamstring injury, it was winger Tiana Penitani who put the first points on the board for NSW, after she scooped up a grubber kick from Keeley Joseph at dummy-half.

The Blues had 63 per cent of possession and 73 per cent of the territory inside those first 15 minutes, and the Maroons were on the backfoot trying to keep up with the speed of the NSW play-the-ball.

Heavy-hitter Simaima Taufa, who missed Origin I with an injury, was relentless and the experienced forward charged through the Maroons’ line to put NSW in strong field position.

But Queensland turned the tide and it was the Blues who were left on their backsides after Tazmin Gray got tricky with the football. The Maroons hit back with a try to Tamika Upton in the 17th minute, and from there the points flowed.

Tarryn Aiken took advantage of rookie halfback Jesse Southwell’s inexperience, slipping past her on the outside to get Queensland their third try before half-time for a 14-6 lead at the break.

But the Sky Blues were first to strike in the second-half, with some smart ball movement from fullback Emma Tonegato and Isabelle Kelly on the short side to Penitani who bagged a double.

With the momentum in their favour, off the back of two Queensland errors, NSW decided to take a penalty kick rather than a fresh set of six only 10 metres out from the Maroons line to put them within two points of the home side.

From there, it was an arm-wrestle. Southwell was hesitant to kick on the last play of sets, and a couple of handling errors gave possession back to the Maroons during some crucial moments for the visitors.

Queensland looked more focussed on defending their lead rather than scoring points. The home side were sheepish in attack and were kept scoreless in the second half.

The penalty try in the final minutes of the game handed the victory to NSW, but ultimately, the Maroon’s goal-line defence in the first-half was enough to hold-off NSW and return the Origin trophy to Queensland.

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