In a sport where the hate-fuelled rivalry between New South Wales and Queensland is at its highest, the Intrust Super NSW Residents as expected were out for blood.
On paper, Queensland had a very strong team. NSW were not supposed to win.
Shane Millard was the coach and as soon as the squad assembled on the Sunday night, the players clicked as quickly as any team could.
Scott Sorensen was originally named captain, but was eventually omitted due to Wade Graham breaking his jaw during the week and having to go back up to first grade.
Kyle Flanagan has the honour of leading the team out to ANZ Stadium before State of Origin Game II in Sorensen’s absence.
The game was over shortly after it began.
Inspired by performances from Sean O’Sullivan and Dean Britt, the NSW side were up by a whopping 30-0 at half-time. O’Sullivan set up three and scored one himself in the opening 40 minutes, while Britt crossed three times with one being called back for an obstruction.
Among the try-scorers was Luke Garner. At this stage he was not only yet to debut, but wasn’t even a part of the Wests Tigers Top 30. What a few months it has been for the try-scoring machine.
Queensland scored first in the second half thanks to a wonderful put-down by Kalifa Faifai Loa before his opposition winger Tony Satini hit straight back. Satini is no stranger to scoring a try at ANZ Stadium, scoring four in the Intrust Super State Championship last year, and he finished off a back-line shift to tick off another one.
Maika Sivo pulled off an enormous hit while Queensland were on the attack, but they got the ball away and Blake Leary took advantage of an overlap to decrease their deficit. Scott Drinkwater and Faifai Loa finished a late run of tries for Queensland with two minutes remaining, making the final score 36-20 to NSW.
