Summary
Thank you for joining me tonight. State of Origin never fails to deliver, does it?
A brilliant win for Queensland sets up the series superbly. I’ll be back here in a couple of weeks to see if the Blues can exact revenge in Perth. Join me then.
Here’s your match report from this evening. Reaction to follow.
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Next stop Perth, a fortnight on Sunday, for a must-win fixture for the out of sorts Blues. And then, if the series remains alive, one final shot in Brisbane. This away victory puts Queensland firmly in the driving seat and NSW with history against them.
“I’m wrecked,” pants instant icon Carrigan after one of the great Origin debuts.
One Origin as coach for Billy Slater for a return of one underdog win in Sydney. Former teammate Munster was impressed: “I know what Billy is like and I’ve played with him and he is diligent at what he does and he has come into the camp and he has watched some video on us and he has picked a good gameplan for us against the Blues tonight and with guys like him and Cam Smith and JT, they believe in the jersey.”
During his interview, Cam Munster was informed he was tonight’s man-of-the-match.
It wasn’t a match that will fill highlight reels for attacking brilliance but Cameron Munster still found enough moments to enhance his reputation. “One of the hardest games I’ve ever played,” the breathless halfback tells Channel 9. There’s praise for debutant Patrick Carrigan, who excelled off the bench, and for Harry Grant, who gave the Maroons dynamism from dummy-half.
NSW only stepped it up in the final quarter, but when they did Queensland defended for their lives. Heroes aplenty in Maroon putting their bodies on the line time and again. The scramble defence in particular was something to behold. Valentine Holmes in particular was unbelievable.
What a spectacle. What an effort from the two sets of players. Breathless and brilliant from go to woah.
Full-time: NSW 10-16 Queensland
Queensland win!
80 mins: Penalty to NSW just in their own half. One final set! All or nothing.
79 mins: Hunt breaks the line! Can he find a man? He looks inside, then out, Holmes is the runner - but he’s ankle tapped metres from the line! Queensland won’t be too disappointed. They have NSW where they want them.
77 mins: Only a couple of sets left for NSW to rescue the game now. But it takes four tackles to get to halfway, such is the dedication of the visiting defence. On the last the Blues keep the ball alive on the left edge. Fast hands, quick feet, and a gap emerges, but the required kick only finds the brilliant Munster.
76 mins: NSW come again, over halfway on tackle three, into the 30 on four, but the Blues can’t find their targets and the move stutters. Cleary kicks high to the right, but it’s shallow. Tupou wins the tip, keeps the ball alive, and the field is broken, players all over the place like discarded shotgun shells. Anything could happen! NSW continue to probe, but eventually it’s smothered by a Maroon jersey and Queensland scramble clear. Breathless stuff.
74 mins: The Blues are rolling. Three solid tackles are completed with Wighton bursting free down the left. Fans are on their feet as he scampers down the whitewash. The ball comes infield, another score is brewing, and MUNSTER STRIPS! What a play, what a player! Yet again tonight Queensland someone find a moment to keep NSW out. Miraculous stuff.
GOAL! NSW 10-16 Queensland (Cleary, 73)
Cleary with the clutch conversion. Just one converted try the difference now.
TRY! NSW 8-16 Queensland (Murray, 72)
Finally, NSW pierce the Queensland defence. The weight of territory and possession eventually told and in the end it was a simple move through hands to the left with Murray hitting the line hard, inside Gagai, outside DCE, wrong-footing the covering Ponga.
71 mins: Penalty against the Maroons for slowing the play-the-ball. NSW kick to halfway. It’s now or never.
69 mins: Wow! NSW somehow wriggle from their own line into a breakway that looks destined to end in a try with Tedesco chipping through, but Holmes comes across and smothers in one of the great acts of Origin desperation. That was incredible! Queensland have shown extraordinary resilience in defence.
67 mins: The game is still on NSW’s terms in midfield but Queensland are giving them no space to execute combinations. Cleary is continually forced to go to the sky and time and again Holmes or Ponga leap to claim spectacular marks. Hunt is back on for Grant, and he’s immediately in the action with a brilliant kick to pin NSW on their own line. From the next play Wighton drops the ball in contact, Munster picks up the scraps and is inches from the sealing try! Fa’asuameleaui has a bulldoze, Cotter, Carrigan, DCE kicks to the corner, Cobbo taps the ball back infield and Gillard saves the day with a desperate tackle. This is engrossing stuff. That couple of minutes could have earned Queensland enough time.
66 mins: Another chance for the Blues with great field position - but the ball’s pilfered by DCE! Queenslanders just keep coming up with incredible individual moments.
64 mins: Tedesco drops a wonderful sidestep to set up a 30m burst that leads to a ruck penalty. The kick to halfway is soon compounded with a set restart. The Blues are all over this. NO! A wicked loose pass from the left corner is scooped up by Munster and he legs it to halfway. Queensland just need to settle - but Kaufusi knocks on unopposed! These players are exhausted. The pace has been unrelenting and now the errors are starting to creep in. Massive final 15 minutes with the Blues pushing.
63 mins: Queensland are now struggling to get out of their own half, but Grant buys them some time with a nifty hand-off, and Cobbo almost breaks down the right but Wighton lays a superb tackle.
62 mins: Another incredible defensive effort from Holmes, knocking Tedesco off his feet with the NSW skipper on the burst. The Blues are coming now. This game isn’t over.
61 mins: DCE misses a 40-20 by milimetres! Great field kick nonetheless. And Nanai’s back! Huge gain for Queensland in these closing 20 minutes.
60 mins: Territory in midfield is now on NSW’s terms. Queensland continue to defend expertly, but they’re now being forced to step out of the line and make unmissable one-on-one tackles. Holmes is again majestic under the high ball. He has defended magnificently tonight.
58 mins: After a kick that’s claimed 30m out, NSW labor for four tackles. Eventually there’s some urgency through Luai down the left, but it’s unstructured and Queensland are disciplined in defence. The ball ends up on the right but Tupou is isolated. The Blues need jolting into life.
56 mins: NSW have been flat this half. They need a game changer from somewhere.
56 mins: Holmes with a poor conversion attempt that slices off to the right. It keeps NSW within two converted tries.
TRY! NSW 4-16 Queensland (Holmes, 55)
The Maroons are in dreamland! From the penalty on the left Queensland move to the right slowly and conservatively, then after three tackles cut back to the left crisply. Grant ups the pace, feeding Ponga in the left centre position, the fullback pings a bullet to Holmes on the burst who skips around the outside and touches down.
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54 mins: And the first thing Crichton does is execute a good old-fashioned tip-tackle on Munster. The Panther is immediately on report, but not in the bin. That was a very dangerous lift and dump. The Maroons kick to 20m out on the left.
53 mins: Cleary has to kick from his own half. NSW haven’t had a look this half. Crichton is on for Staggs as Fittler rolls the dice.
52 mins: Half-an-hour left for Queensland to hold out with just two on the bench. Or with Munster in the mood, to extend the lead beyond doubt? The Storm half is at it again, stabbing a kick to the right corner that Cotter snaffles but can’t find the offload with the line broken. NSW are on the ropes.
GOAL! NSW 4-12 Queensland (Holmes, 50)
Simple conversion to take the lead beyond a converted try.
TRY! NSW 4-10 Queensland (Cherry-Evans 49)
From the scrum, 10m out, DCE reads the play as first receiver on the right, sidesteps to his left, wrongfoots the defensive line and Queensland extend their lead. Easy as that.
NSW are furious that one or two of their forwards were held in at the scrum - Paulo and Sims especially - but the TMO does not get involved.
Updated
49 mins: Brilliant by Munster, incredible sidestepping and dancing in midfield to turn nothing into a near-certain try, but he opted not to pass to Ponga on his shoulder, fearing the intercept, and accepted the tackle. From the following attack there’s a Blues knock-on on the right wing with Queensland building.
47 mins: They don’t get it. James Tedesco runs to the 30, gets scragged without being held, so he bounces up and makes it to the 40. The Blues are beginning to roll. Offloads aplenty, first to the left, then the right, but in broken field Queensland look the more intense and they scramble defence well. Cleary’s kick goes dead and the initial signal is for a line drop-out, the first of the night, but the TMO overrules and Queensland escape.
46 mins: NSW restart play and make ground down the right wing until Holmes lines up Staggs. Cobbo only just holds onto Cleary’s kick on the last tackle. The Maroons need a few minutes to steady the ship.
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44 mins: It sure looks like Nanai is done. He’s being helped from the field. That leaves Queensland just two on the bench and very few options for the final 37 minutes.
Updated
44 mins: Excellent hard running from Tedesco and Cook steers NSW away from danger, still no threat to the Maroons this half though. Queensland taking no chances with ball in hand until DCE lofts a kick towards To’o’s safe hands. But there’s a whistle. What’s this for? It’s to stop play to allow debutant Jeremiah Nanai treatment. He looks in agony after his right ankle was destabilised in a Cobbo tackle. Could that be the second Queenslander done for the night?
42 mins: Not a great opening set from NSW but Cleary’s kick is testing - not for Val Holmes who hits it on the full like a Bald Eagle snaffling a bunny from the heather. It sets the Maroons up for a solid set and great field position by handover.
41 mins: 40 minutes to go. Can Queensland complete the job in Sydney?
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Billy Slater was pleased with his first half as an Origin coach, singling out debutants Carrigan and Cotter for praise.
Brad Fittler wasn’t panicking, but keen to see his side take possession further up the field this half.
Some big numbers from the Queenslanders on debut - 28 tackles in the half for Cotter and 109 metres from Carrigan #QLDER #Origin
— Queensland Maroons (@QLDmaroons) June 8, 2022
Just a reminder that Queensland’s Xavier Coates is probably done for the night after rolling his ankle.
“What a game. The pinnacle of rugby league. I love State of Origin,” likewise HarryofOz, likewise.
“The pace has been incredible, and the defence to counteract that unbelievable.” It amazes me how disciplined they can be despite the fatigue. Presumably the game will open up in the final 20 or so...
Phew! That was a blur. These athletes are something else. All that muscle, all that contact, all that skill, and so many repeat sprints.
I know how they feel actually, I did slowly jog 4k today listening to a podcast on the influence of David Bowie’s Low on the New Wave scene of the late 1970s.
Updated
Half-time: NSW 4-6 Queensland
That was fast and frenetic, but not packed with incident. Queensland can count themselves lucky to be ahead after offering little in attack, but they did control the midfield for large chunks of the half. NSW showed flashes, but most of their combinations were angled deep, failing to penetrate the gain-line. All to play for in the second half.
40 mins: Munster misses a field goal from 25m out on the last tackle. Curious decision, but hey, he’s Cameron Munster. The siren sounds as NSW begin their final set of the half, the ball again goes down the Blues’ right, the kick ahead sets up an almighty foot race - and Holmes wins it, just.
No try!
40 mins: From the scrum the ball is moved to the right and Capewell has to lay a crucial tackle to keep the Maroons in it. Sims is soon back with a vengeance and the field is broken and Queensland are all at sea. Enter Junior Paulo, carving through the fractured line like a hot knife through butter. Queensland couldn’t hold their lead for more than one set.
Hold on.... hold on.... NO TRY! The TMO has pulled up Cameron Murray, the decoy runner for Paulo’s try, for shepherding. Nobody seems to object, and the Maroons breathe a huge sigh of relief.
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38 mins: Cotter fumbles at the ruck and NSW have a free-hit 40m out from the line.
GOAL! NSW 4-6 Queensland (Holmes, 37)
Queensland take the lead just before the break.
WOW 🤯🤯
— NRL (@NRL) June 8, 2022
What an assist from Selwyn Cobbo! #Origin pic.twitter.com/FFZcbKAHn0
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TRY! NSW 4-4 Queensland (Gagai, 36)
Out of nothing, Queensland are level! Grant gets lucky with a quick pass out to the right, the ball skids off the turf, beating the NSW defence breaking out of the line. Cobbo collects and sizes up the scene in an instant, kicking infield where the ball sits up beautifully for the onrushing Gagai to collect and dive over. Plenty of fortune in the move for the Maroons, but that was instinctively brilliant from Cobbo.
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33 mins: Wighton comes out of the line and smashes into Collins like a charging bull. Queensland recover but NSW are soon back on the attack. Cleary again goes high to Tupou’s wing, and the Blue picks off the mid-air grab, offloads, and Tedesco is through... or not. Another forward pass! That was marginal, and harsh on Tupou for such a superb double play.
31 mins: Carrigan has been a revelation since his introduction, giving Queensland much more impetus. The last ten minutes or so have been on the Maroons’ terms in midfield, but they can’t find any penetration out wide. And when they do, on the left with Capewell, there’s a forward pass.
30 mins: Another crucial couple of moments go against DCE. On the last tackle, inside the NSW 10m line, the Queensland skipper slips and he’s collected by Wighton. He then claims a captain’s challenge for a high shot from the try-scorer, but it’s unsuccessful. “Just a touch” says the video referee.
Meanwhile, Coates is done for the night with a lower leg injury. Holmes moves to the wing, Capewell to the centre, and Nanai is on for debut after just 16 NRL games.
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26 mins: For three tackles it’s all individual bursts, the third of which Munster makes a half-break but has no support. Carrigan then crosses the line but he’s held up and pushed back. The six-again klaxon blares. Surely there’s a score here. Grant shapes to pass, the ball goes to ground - penalty Queensland. DCE declines the two points on offer. Grant makes a dart and comes up inches short. The path of attack heads to the left, then into the space on the right, but NSW defend superbly. DCE is forced into the crossfield kick high to the corner - this is what Coates was picked for - but the Blues do enough to disrupt the contest and the attack breaks down. Big opportunity missed for Queensland, they might rue the two points they left out on the field come the closing stages.
25 mins: Error! Junior Paulo fumbles at the ruck coming out of defence and Queensland have a scrum 30m out. Their best chance yet.
24 mins: NSW are starting to find their combinations, especially down their right where Cleary is finding Staggs regularly. Queensland are scrambling smartly, but it could have come at a cost with Coates limping badly. Grant is now on in place of Hunt at dummy half. Queensland need his invention in what has so far been a lacklustre attacking display.
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22 mins: The first really penetrating kick of the night form Cleary but Ponga does brilliantly to claim the diving mark in the wind under pressure. The Maroons are treading water going forward but Munster buys them territory with a magnificent long left-footed dribbler.
20 mins: Queensland make a rare half-break down the left through Ponga, but Holmes is hauled in. There’s a six-again call, which energises Queensland, and they move at speed from left to right, but again DCE fails to read the play, double-pumping to wrong-foot Gagai and inducing an error.
18 mins: To’o again handles the high ball to the corner after Queensland take an age to drive the ball downfield. Papalii is an early change for the visitors, replaced by debutant Carrigan, and the newcomer makes an immediate impact, hammering Wighton in a tackle that made the ground shake.
16 mins: Nathan Cleary hits the post with his touchline conversion attempt.
Wighton STRIKES 💥#Origin pic.twitter.com/4Z6n3N5zg7
— NRL (@NRL) June 8, 2022
Updated
TRY! NSW 4-0 Queensland (Wighton, 15)
From the scrum following Coates’ knock-on, little happens for three tackles, but then Cook peels off a superb pass from dummy-half to the left where Cleary and then Luai help it onto Wighton on the burst. The Raider pins his ears back and takes Cobbo over with him in the corner. Not a unanimous choice for the No 4 jersey tonight, but he’s repaid Fittler’s faith early.
Updated
14 mins: The intensity steps up a notch with NSW smelling blood. Play switches to the right and Xavier Coates has to step out of the line and either intercept or knock on. He does the latter and Queensland escape - for now.
13 mins: Papalii lays consecutive hits on Staggs and Haas, keeping NSW in their own half before the kick. Queensland look to run out of defence but Holmes drops the ball 25m out! Huge opportunity now for the Blues.
10 mins: Wow! Tiny Cook monsters massive Tino in midfield in a proper David vs Goliath mismatch. Queensland are forced to kick for territory again, and it works when Yeo fumbles on halfway. Cobbo then gets his first touch of Origin footy, and he’s scragged about 20m into touch! The crowd is delighted, but Klein had called “held” much earlier and the MAroons get a penalty to set up their first dangerous attacking set.
But it ends with Fa’asuameleaui unable to hold onto a DCE hospital pass with three Blues rushing in reading the play.
Breathless stuff early on, but little in the way of chances for either side.
8 mins: NSW benefit from a six-again early in their set and by tackle three they’re on the Queensland 20m line. Play spreads from right to left, but it’s deep and slow. On the last Cleary kicks to the opposite corner where Tupou leaps overhead but can’t bring down the mark and it’s a knock-on against the Rooster.
6 mins: Munster almost feeds Capewell through on the left but the Blues smother and Tedesco returns the deep kick on the last. An early feature has been the amount of ball-carrying the NSW backs have done in these early exchanges, but after good work form his teammates Cleary overshoots with his bomb and the Maroons run to halfway. Queensland have a sniff of a chance when DCE sidesteps his way through midfield but Hunt’s grubber is too hot for Holmes to haul in.
4 mins: Yeo remains on, for now, and lays a tackle as Queensland make good ground down the left, before failing to find any combinations on the last. Munster goes aerial again towards To’o but for the second time already the Panther hauls down the high ball with ease. The Blues make little ground on their set but the kick chase is superb.
2 mins: Papalii takes the first carry - and he pounds into Yeo, who looks shaken badly. Oof, that was violent. The set is solid, DCE’s first kick is neat, the chase is good and Queensland have momentum. In return Haas almost breaks the line then NSW profit from a loose ball which hands them a repeat set on halfway. They try to feed Wighton through a gap on the right edge but the timing isn’t spot on and the Maroons escape.
Kick-off!
Nathan Cleary boots the 2022 State of Origin series into life...
But those jeers turn to cheers when the Blues emerge behind James Tedesco. Two years of Covid-interrupted frustration escape into the Sydney night air as Enter Sandman blares around the Olympic Stadium.
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Here we go! Out come the Maroons, led by skipper Daly Cherry-Evans, to a cacophony of boos and jeers. That was loud. And very unwelcoming.
Finishing touches are being applied in the sheds. By finishing touches, I mean those slappy hugs players give each other walking around the room. We’ll be underway soon enough.
Ashley Klein is your whistleblower for the next couple of hours, in case you were wondering.
What can we expect from Billy Slater in his first head coaching gig? He’s shown bravery at the selection table, and from his comments during the week it’s clear there’ll be more traditional Origin rhetoric than we saw from Paul Green, who seemed to lack the required bombast for the role.
“This team has been important to me since I was a four-year-old boy,” Slater said. “I got the opportunity to be one of the players that wore the jersey and inspired other people and now I get the opportunity to help our group be those players to inspire our state.”
Slater’s challenge is to generate the same passion in his charges that he exhibited during the most storied of Origin careers. “We haven’t had to dive down too much into what it means to Queenslanders, these players understand it and they remember how they felt growing up and what this jersey meant to them.
“I’m confident that our group are going to play really well, they’re going to do their state, their families and themselves really proud.”
Slater also spun a believable line in modern coaching speak - controlling the controlables and all. “We have focused on what we can control and that has been our preparation. This game means so much to so many people,” Slater said.
“We all have this perception that Origin is about big moments and history tells that story and this team has had some really big moments in the 42 years of Origin but the small moments are really important and that’s what we have spoken about. The big moments will happen, they will come, but they’ll never happen if you don’t do the small moments. If you go out chasing the big moments you’ll forget about the small ones.
“We’ve had a great preparation and we’re all looking forward to the game now.”
It’s clear, dry, and cool in Sydney this evening. There is a westerly breeze to contend with that will swirl around the Olympic Stadium and make sitting under a high ball unenviable, but considering the weather that’s hit the east coast in recent months, conditions are about as good as can be expected.
Another lovely read, this time from Emma Kemp, on the role rugby league can play improving education outcomes for Indigenous students.
“It’s also about preparing our next generations to be where we are,” says Saltner, a descendent of the Wulli Wulli and Wakka Wakka people of central Queensland. “We’re standing on our ancestors’ and our parents’ shoulders. Who’s going to be standing on our shoulders to take our culture forward?
“When we grew up there wasn’t a visible person in front of us teaching us. So that’s our biggest push, to make sure we are visible teaching our kids, and that they know they can do that also.”
This is a terrific read on the Queensland town of Cherbourg by Dwayne Grant. It’s exactly the kind of story that enriches the Origin experience.
Every Queensland town takes pride in its homegrown Origin heroes. Billy Slater and Innisfail. Darren Lockyer and Roma. Allan Langer and Ipswich. But the impact of Cobbo’s selection on the people of Cherbourg is on another level.
Located about 250km north-west of Brisbane, Cherbourg is home to approximately 1,300 people, 98.7% of whom – according to the most recent census – identify as Indigenous. Founded as Barambah settlement in 1904, the Queensland government forcibly relocated Aboriginal people there for several decades.
G’day HarryofOz, it’s been a minute. Now, to your email:
“Really looking forward to tonight’s match. Lots of debutants and others with little SoO experience, so we could be in for some wonderful surprises. The absence of Latrell Mitchell and Tom Trbojevic has brought the Blues back a bit I reckon. Staggs and Wighton are good, but the other two are world class. Counting down the minutes. Hope it’s a cracker. Enjoy the match and the blog. Come on you Blues!”
Brad Fittler has just been asked about those late changes to the NSW pack. “I thought Cam Murray coming back from an operation, I thought it would be better bringing him in a little bit later and I like the balance of Reagan starting and bringing in Junior Paulo a little later. I felt very confident that this was the best way.”
After 55 years of broadcasting, 45 grand finals and 99 State of Origins, the “voice of rugby league” has hit the mute button on his career, a week shy of this year’s Origin 1. It’s a characteristically humble call by Warren not to chase a 100th call simply for posterity. Even after five decades, Warren suffered acute anxiety before every broadcast, fearing he would make a mistake in the call and not realise, thereby damaging a legacy hard won and rightly revered. Right to the end he has put the game and its supporters first. But the quiet he leaves behind is deafening.
Angus Fontaine gives the retiring Rabs a lovely bear hug and firm hand on the shoulder.
Queensland XVII
Queensland line-up 1-17 as expected.
It’s Billy Slater’s first side as Queensland coach and it contains four debutants: Selwyn Cobbo, Reuben Cotter, Pat Carrigan, and Jeremiah Nanai. There’s a strong presence from the in-form Cowboys, as well as the usual smattering of Melbourne playmakers. One of those, Harry Grant, will start from the bench after suffering an illness in the lead-up to the game.
#QLDERhttps://t.co/D6HYdNbUeq pic.twitter.com/V2Br7wTB2K
— Queensland Maroons (@QLDmaroons) June 8, 2022
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NSW XVII
New South Wales go in with the 17-man squad named earlier this week but there are two late changes to the run-on side with Liam Martin and Reagan Campbell-Gillard starting in the pack with Cameron Murray and Junior Paulo making an impact from the bench.
It is an extraordinarily talent group from back to front, full of leaders, match-winners, grinders and game-breakers. This 17 would win most matches in the history of rugby league.
As has already been well discussed, the omission of Josh Addo-Carr - presumably reflecting Fittler’s concern for Queensland’s aerial prowess - is the headline selection news. There’s also no shortage of conjecture over Jack Wighton starting ahead of Stephen Crichton in the centres.
Not bad for a rep side missing the quality of Latrell Mitchell and Tom Trbojevic to illness and injury.
Two changes to the run on side with Reg and Marto starting! #BackInBlue pic.twitter.com/Mt1tu6cUnj
— NSWBlues (@NSWBlues) June 8, 2022
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Polly lols.
Getting ready for Game 1. Go the @NSWBlues ! pic.twitter.com/zrS0vp6ipy
— Dom Perrottet (@Dom_Perrottet) June 8, 2022
State of Origin is so often about Queensland but more so than anytime in recent series this year is all about the Maroons. It is about Billy Slater and a raft of debutants. It is even about the Blues diverging from recent style to react to Queensland’s team selections.
If it’s narrative you want in your Origin 1 preview, Nick Tedeschi has bucketloads of it.
If you want to join in the conversation tonight you can reach me on Twitter @JPHowcroft or send emails to jonathan.howcroft.casual@theguardian.com.
I’ve not been on the tools for a while, so I might be a little rusty.
Preamble
Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of State of Origin Game 1 between New South Wales and Queensland. Kick-off in Sydney is scheduled for 8.10pm AEST (but I’ll level with you, it’s likely to be closer to 8.30 with all the prematch hoo-ha).
Origin’s back, and as always the anticipation of the new fizzes like a bag of Pop Rocks tipped into a gurgle of Tizer.
Can the all-powerful Blues extend their recent record to four series victories in five years, or will the remodelled Maroons upset the odds?
How will Billy Slater cope in a box; and how will we cope with Ray Warren outside of one?
Is Brad Fittler overthinking things by omitting Josh Addo-Carr and not selecting Stephen Crichton in his starting XIII, or is it another masterstroke from a modern-day Origin wizard?
We have a long night ahead so let’s pace ourselves, settle in, and savour one of the world’s great sporting spectacles.
