For a tick over 10 minutes late in the State of Origin series opener on Wednesday night, it appeared James Tedesco may have ruined the NSW Blues’ chances of stealing a come-from-behind win.
Then, with a minute to play at a rain-soaked Accor Stadium, the champion NSW fullback leapt above Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow to snaffle a Nathan Cleary kick and score a try.
Tedesco’s try, scored in his comeback to the Origin arena, levelled the scores at 20-apiece, before Cleary knocked over a simple conversion to give the Blues the lead for the first time in the game with only three seconds left.
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Queensland regathered the short kick-off that inevitably followed but a frantic series of passes amounted to nothing, putting the Blues-dominant 79,186-strong crowd in raptures.
The Blues were helped in an enormous way in Sydney by Ashley Klein’s staggering decision to send off Kalyn Ponga with 23 minutes to play.
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The Maroons led 20-0 when the superstar fullback was sent off for a shoulder charge on Tolu Koula – a shoulder charge that ended the Blues winger’s night through concussion.
And NSW then stormed home against a 12-man Queensland team to claim a pulsating, but controversial, 22-20 win.
“The most unlikely comeback you could’ve ever imagined,” said Nine caller Mat Thompson.
Cleary, the eventual man of the match, put up a perfectly executed high ball from 30 metres out with 90 seconds left on the clock, with the ball coming down a couple of metres out from the NSW try line.
And Tedesco, in his third life in sky blue, scampered after the ball, jumped above Tabuai-Fidow, gobbled up the ball and crashed over.
Replays showed the former NSW captain bobbled the ball twice – once off his head and once off his left shoulder – but the stakes were high and the comeback king wasn’t about to drop it.
With 13 minutes to go and Queensland leading 20-10, Tedesco bombed what should have been a walk-in NSW try when he threw a shocker of a pass that landed at the feet of Haumole Olakau’atu, who knocked the ball on.
All Tedesco had to do was run at Selwyn Cobbo, draw the Queensland winger and take advantage of a three-man overlap on the right edge, with Olakau’atu, Kotoni Staggs and Brian To’o all unmarked and ready to capitalise on the undermanned Maroons.
“Butchered! Butchered!” declared Queensland icon Cameron Smith on the Nine broadcast.
Filthy with himself, Tedesco put his hands on his head, grimaced, and wondered what could have been.
Just over 10 minutes later, his hands were above his head in celebration of his magical match-winning moment.
The Blues won the game despite having trailed 20-0 after 20 minutes, as the Maroons threatened to pull off a stunning hit-and-run mission in NSW territory.
“I bombed one earlier and I wanted to make up for it,” Tedesco told Nine post-match.
“So I just told Nath to put it up for me, go and compete, and I’ve worked so hard on that, and I’m just glad I came down with it in the end.”
Tedesco, who reclaimed the NSW No.1 jersey from Panthers gun Dylan Edwards, racked up 169 run metres from 23 carries and had a line break assist.
The Roosters champion didn’t shoot the lights out upon his return to the Origin stage – but as he’s done on so many occasions for the Roosters, Blues and Kangaroos, he produced a glorious game-winning play.
Tabuai-Fidow, the Maroons ace Tedesco jumped above to snatch Cleary’s kick at the death, had shifted from the centres to fullback to cover for Ponga, with Kurt Capewell moving from the second row to the centres.
“We [made] too many errors, gave them too much field position,” Tedesco said.
“We knew if we had some ball and field position we would give ourselves a chance, and obviously Kalyn going off gave us an extra bit of boost.
“Just glad we hung in tight. That’s what Origin is about – [fighting] all the way to the 80th minute.”
The Blues will take a 1-0 series lead into game two at Melbourne’s AAMI Park on June 17.
