State of Origin 2018 Game 3: NSW vs Qld player ratings

Game III has been won 18-12 by Qld over NSW, resulting in a 2-1 series win for the Blues. Here’s how the players rated.

Daly Cherry-Evans after scoring in the second half. Picture: AAP

State of Origin Game III has been won 18-12 by Queensland over NSW, resulting in a 2-1 series win for the Blues.

How the players rated:

QUEENSLAND

BILLY SLATER: Denied a farewell try in the opening minutes, but got outside Latrell Mitchell for Valentine Holmes’ second try. Finished the game with three linebreak assists. 8.5

VALENTINE HOLMES: Got Queensland’s opening try with another length-of-the-field intercept from a James Tedesco ball and scored another in the second. Took another crucial intercept late. 8.5

DANE GAGAI: Made some breaks and finished as the Maroons’ leading metre-eater with 183. Had four tackle busts and one linebreak to be one of Queensland’s best. 8

WILL CHAMBERS: Forced an early error on James Maloney but finished with two mistakes of his own and conceded one penalty. Wasn’t his best series. 6.5

COREY OATES: Made two errors in consecutive sets midway through the second half but still finished with two tackle busts and a linebreak. Didn’t do himself any harm on return. 6.5

CAMERON MUNSTER: Had an up-and-down night with an intercept pass in the lead-up to the Maroons’ first try. Made up for it later when he broke through in the lead-up to Daly Cherry-Evans’ try in the second half. 7.5

DALY CHERRY-EVANS: Answered his critics with his best State of Origin performance. Scored a try, forced three line dropouts and should have had an assist for Slater with a kick in the opening minutes. 9

JAI ARROW: Proved the call to start him was the right one with 100m, one tackle bust and two offloads up front. 7

ANDREW MCCULLOUGH: Earned the Maroons a penalty with a quick run out of dummy- half. Went off at the half-hour mark without a missed tackle to his name and wasn’t seen again until the 76th minute. 7

JOSH PAPALII: Got the Maroons on the front foot in the opening 20 minutes and again late in the match by averaging almost 12m per run. 7.5

GAVIN COOPER: Threw the last past for the Cherry-Evans’ try and had easily his best night of the series. 7.5

FELISE KAUFUSI: Made an error in the first half but it didn’t stop the Maroons’ momentum. Got through plenty of work in defence. 7

JOSH MCGUIRE: A poor read on Damien Cook and James Tedesco opened the way for NSW’s try to put them in the lead before half-time, but was otherwise solid in his 56 minutes on the field. 6.5

BEN HUNT: Played more than half the game out of dummy-half after having not spent any time at hooker this season. Provided a third kicking option and looked to run the ball three times. 7

JARROD WALLACE: Didn’t close in on James Tedesco to stop the Blues’ try on the half-time siren but had more impact off the bench than he had as a starting player. 6.5

COEN HESS: Had impact with all 10 of his runs as he spent around 20 minutes on the field either side of halftime. 7

TIM GLASBY: Was again solid for the Maroons through the middle in an uninterrupted 38-minute stint during the second half. 7

NSW

JAMES TEDESCO: Scored the try to give NSW the lead just before half-time and typified the Blues’ resilience with a try-saver on Corey Oates in the 27th minute. 7.5

TOM TRBOJEVIC: Got the Blues on the board with a length-of-the-field intercept try while the Blues were down to 12 men. Finished the game with 235m and five tackle busts. 8.5

LATRELL MITCHELL: Quiet in attack and gave away the game’s first penalty for a shoulder charge on Billy Slater. Was beaten by the same player in the lead-up to Valentine Holmes’ second try. 5

JAMES ROBERTS: Held on resiliently in defence as Dane Gagai and Corey Oates peppered his edge, but couldn’t get the ball in open space to make a big difference in attack. 6.5

JOSH ADDO-CARR: Solid and made a late line break. Valentine Holmes scored twice on his wing but one was through an intercept and the other through pure numbers. 6

JAMES MALONEY: Phil Gould described him as a goldfish and this is one he’d want to forget. Was sin-binned for running Billy Slater off the ball and finished with five errors and three missed tackles. 4.5

NATHAN CLEARY: Played a far bigger role with the boot than he did in the first two games. Forced a dropout and no obvious errors without starring. 6.5

DAVID KLEMMER: Let Cameron Munster skip past in the lead-up to Daly Cherry- Evans’ try. Gave away a penalty for a trip while NSW were on the attack in the last 20 minutes. 5.5

DAMIEN COOK: Darted dangerously out of dummy-half from the get-go and put James Tedesco over for the Blues’ try on half time. Tardy in defence in lead-up to the Daly Cherry-Evans try. 8.5

PAUL VAUGHAN: Only played the opening 23 minutes. Got through a stack of work in defence and forced an error but couldn’t get his hands on the ball. 6

BOYD CORDNER: Didn’t back up his Sydney heroics and while he got his job done he finished with three missed tackles. 6.5

TYSON FRIZELL: Did his job for the Blues as they weathered the early Queensland storm in his initial 25-minute stint. 7

JAKE TRBOJEVIC: The Blues’ best defender in the middle as he got through 69 minutes in his first stint as a starting Origin player. 8

JACK DE BELIN: Had a different job tonight and was brought on in the front row when he came off the bench. Got through it without error or missed tackle. 7

TARIQ SIMS: Made good metres in attack but gave away a dumb penalty when he tackled Ben Hunt at marker to give Queensland possession for their second try. 6

ANGUS CRICHTON: Looked dangerous at times on the right edge but held a pass too late on the last which would’ve put Roberts away midway through the second half. 6.5

TYRONE PEACHEY: Got 18 minutes late and added plenty of speed and life to the Blues’ attack but couldn’t find a linking man to hit a gap with his sideway runs. 5.5

AAP