Rugby League Rankings

For a few weeks.

RLR’s NRL Power Rankings, Origin previews/recaps and Friday Morning Five-Eighth will return at the end of June 2008.

In the meantime – enjoy the footy!

Led by Johnathan Thurston’s superb game at five-eighth (where he looked very very comfortable) and a stunning first half performance by Greg Inglis (4 line breaks and 2 try assists on the night) – the Maroons leveled the series at 1-1 heading to a deciding Game III in Sydney in July.

The Blues had no answer for the Queensland go-forward roll on and with Scott Prince freeing up Thurston to play wider – the Maroon’s key playmaker made NSW three-quarters Mark Gasnier and Steve Turner look ordinary on NSW’s right side defence. Inglis cut the pair to ribbons in the opening stanza as a result.

NSW’s gamble without a genuine playmaker backfired majorly once Queensland took an early lead – and chasing points the NSW ‘attacking’ combination of Peter Wallace, Greg Bird and Kurt Gidley looked completely devoid of ideas when the Blues were still in the match in the second half.

An appalling refereeing performance from Tony Archer didn’t give the Blues a genuine shot at making a run at Queensland in the back end of the first half – but the Blues had more catastrophic general play issues of their own to deal with than a dodgy refereeing display.

Queensland now seize the initiative in the series and will be full of confidence that with controlled possession – their attack has far more points in them than their NSW counterparts who must think long and hard about who to select as their playmakers for Game III – given their monumental meltdown last night.

QUEENSLAND MAROONS 30
TRIES: Darius Boyd 2 (7th & 21st), Ben Hannant 1 (63rd), Israel Folau 1 (68th).
GOALS: Johnathan Thurston 7/7 (4 Conversions and 3 Penalty Goals).
FIELD GOALS: Karmichael Hunt 0/1.

Defeated

NEW SOUTH WALES BLUES 0
TRIES: None.
GOALS: None.
FIELD GOALS: None.

At Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane.
Referee: Tony Archer.
Crowd: 52,416.
Official Man of the Match: Greg Inglis (QLD).
NSC Man of the Match: Johnathan Thurston (QLD).
SERIES TIED 1-1 after TWO GAMES.

LEAGUE PLAYER RATINGS FOR GAME II

QUEENSLAND MAROONS:
Karmichael Hunt, LPR = 6 
Darius Boyd*, LPR = 7
Greg Inglis, LPR = 8
Brent Tate, LPR = 9
Israel Folau, LPR = 7
Johnathan Thurston, LPR = 8 – NSC’s Man of the Match
Scott Prince, LPR = 7
Steven Price, LPR = 6
Cameron Smith (c), LPR = 7
Petero Civoniceva, LPR = 7
Ashley Harrison; LPR = 7
Michael Crocker, LPR = 7
Dallas Johnson, LPR = 7
Reserves:
Ben Hannant, LPR = 6
Billy Slater, LPR = 7
Nate Myles, LPR = 7
Sam Thaiday, LPR = 6
TOTAL LEAGUE PLAYER RATING: 118

NEW SOUTH WALES BLUES:
Brett Stewart, LPR = 7
Steve Turner*, LPR = 4
Mark Gasnier, LPR = 4
Matt Cooper, LPR = 7
Anthony Quinn, LPR = 4
Greg Bird, LPR = 5
Peter Wallace, LPR = 4
Brett White, LPR = 4
Danny Buderus (c), LPR = 7
Craig Fitzgibbon, LPR = 5
Willie Mason, LPR = 5
Ryan Hoffman, LPR = 5
Paul Gallen, LPR = 6
Reserves:
Anthony Laffranchi, LPR = 4 
Anthony Tupou, LPR = 5
Kurt Gidley, LPR = 4
Steve Simpson, LPR = 5
TOTAL LEAGUE PLAYER RATING: 85

Referee: Tony Archer, LPR = 3 – and that is being generous… Did the Video Ref’s ability to rule on stripping the ball only come into play in the second half?

GAME III will be played at ANZ Stadium in Sydney on July 2 2008.

Congratulations Queensland.

With the news that Darren Lockyer has withdrawn from the Queensland side for Origin II and perhaps the entire series itself – NSW have a golden opportunity to win not only this game (and seal the series 2-0) but perhaps even think of a clean sweep with Game III back in Sydney.

With Justin Hodges also out suspended – Queensland are without two of their best four players for the all important clash at Suncorp Stadium and face a NSW side that looks stronger with the inclusions of Kurt Gidley and Steve Simpson for Ben Hornby and Ben Cross (omitted and injured respectively).

The TEAMS for GAME II

QUEENSLAND: B Slater, D Boyd*, G Inglis, B Tate, I Folau, J Thurston, S Prince, S Price, C Smith (c), P Civoniceva, S Thaiday, M Crocker, D Johnson. Res: B Hannant, K Hunt, N Myles, A Harrison.

NEW SOUTH WALES: B Stewart, S Turner*, M Gasnier, M Cooper, A Quinn, G Bird, P Wallace, B White, D Buderus (c), C Fitzgibbon, W Mason, R Hoffman, P Gallen. Res: A Laffranchi, A Tupou, K Gidley, S Simpson. 

Referee: Tony Archer.

Rugby League Rankings will have a Video Preview of Game II uploaded by Wednesday June 11 – and possibly even tomorrow Tuesday June 10.

Stay tuned.