Queensland Maroons centre Valentine Holmes had his side off to the perfect start in Origin II, but it wasn’t without controversy.
In the lead up to the four-pointer, Daly Cherry- Evans put up a cross kick to Xavier Oates who contested the ball with Josh Addo-Carr.
The ball stayed alive when no player could get a hold of it, with Holmes picking up the scraps to score.
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Referee Ashley Klein sent the decision up to the Bunker, calling it a no try.
“This is close, did he get some sort of fingertips of Xavier Coates?,” Maroons great Cameron Smith said on Nine’s coverage.
”I don’t know.”
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The Maroons had an unlikely ally in Andrew Johns who was in favour of Coates.
“I don’t think he gets a hand on it, if you watch the fingers … he doesn’t touch it,” he said.
After Coates was cleared to have not touched the ball, Holmes’ put down was then under scrutiny. The Bunker didn’t see any problem with it and awarded it a try.
The Maroons attacking opportunity came after Blues five-eighth Jarome Luai kicked the ball dead the set before, with Johns critical of the play.
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“You can trace it back to the poor kick on the last play from NSW, the ball went dead, seven tackle restart to Queensland who marched the ball down and got an attacking kick,” he said.
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“Those attacking kicks, you cannot get those wrong.”
Queensland coach Billy Slater later described the try as “scrappy” while NSW’s Brad Fittler said it was “fifty fifty”.
Holmes’ try was his 12th in Origin, making him the third greatest try scorer in Origin history now.
The Maroons then had their second four-pointer of the night in the 33rd minute, which created more controversy.
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Queensland went from the right to the left side after a Daly Cherry-Evans line break with David Fifita delivering a pass to Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow which Smith described as “line ball”.
The centre then had a two-on-one with Murray Taulagi scoring his first Origin try.
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