IT WAS being built up as the biggest game in Origin history.
And even though last Wednesday’s decider in Brisbane didn’t quite live up to that tag, it wasn’t far off the mark.
The match was relentless in terms of scoring opportunities for both sides and it kept audiences at home glued to their screens as it became the highest rating rugby league game in history.
But the Blues just simply didn’t do enough to get over the line to break Queensland’s seven-year dominance.
Simple errors at crucial times and a lack of organisation in attack cost New South Wales dearly.
Plenty of people have said to me over the past week that Robbie Farah was impeded for Justin Hodges’ crucial try and while he was, I was more than happy for the officials to award that four-pointer.
If the shoe was on the other foot and the Blues were denied a try for an identical incident, we’d all be blowing up saying how soft the call was.
The moment Farah was touched he just stopped, threw his arms in the air and waited for the referees to rule a shepherd.
I rate Robbie Farah highly, but that was a poor piece of defensive judgement from the dummy half and if he’d made a decent effort to get to Hodges, he probably would’ve had a stronger case with the video ref.
If we can take anything from the series, it’s that NSW is slowly but surely bridging the gap.
FED EXPRESS FIRES TO BREAK BRIT HEARTS
After two weeks of bandwagon British support, Andy Murray is finally Scottish again.
The 25-year-old fell two sets short of becoming the first Brit in 76 years to win a singles crown at Wimbledon on Monday morning after being stopped by a simply superb Roger Federer.
The Fed Express claimed his record-equalling 17th Grand Slam title after losing the first set and he surely now must be considered the greatest male tennis player of all time.
Not even a 30-minute rain delay could put Federer off against Murray, who was in tears after the match during an emotional speech.
I’ve got to say, even though I’m a massive Federer fan, I felt sympathy for Murray – the pressure he was under would’ve been similar to that on Cathy Freeman during the 2000 Olympics.
The win puts Roger back in the world number one spot after more than two years away from the summit.
TEAM USA PUTS THE ‘EAM’ IN DREAM
I genuinely feel for basketball players at this year’s Olympic Games, well only the ones who aren’t in Team USA.
USA Basketball named its 12-strong men’s Olympic team on the weekend and it is a who’s who of the NBA.
Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, Oklahoma City guard Kevin Durant and Miami Heat championship winning duo LeBron James and Chris Bosh are just some of the names included.
Now, we’ve had some great sporting upsets recently – for example, Rafael Nadal got knocked out in the second round of Wimbledon and the GWS Giants got within 180 points against Hawthorn on the weekend – but if Team USA doesn’t win Olympic gold at a canter, then it will be a stunning boilover.
It’s great to see some genuine star power in the team sports at the Olympics after arguably the biggest name in sport, David Beckham, was excluded from Great Britain’s football team for London 2012.
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