Fairytale win farewells legendary prop Civoniceva
Last night in his farewell 33rd State of Origin game, Petero Civoniceva showed why he ranks among the greatest props in rugby league history. At 36, Civoniceva dominated the opening exchanges of Origin III, showing his younger Blues rivals why experience was such a priority.
It was the performance and the fairytale he deserved. Civoniceva’s opposite number, James Tamou, declared in the New Zealand press that the veteran was past it earlier this week.
‘‘There’s just a glimpse there sometimes where you think he’s sort of past it,’’ Kiwi-born Tamou said.
Tamou may have checked the elder statesman in the opening two games but last night Civoniceva dominated.
Early this week, Darren Lockyer was asked how the Maroons managed to jet to a 24-0 lead in last year’s decider victory. Lockyer looked at The CourierMail Origin liftout pen pictures centrespread and pointed to Civoniceva.
Then he pointed to Matt Scott. In the pulsating opening exchanges of the epic Maroons win, the home team was outplayed. When nothing was working for the Maroons, Civoniceva was.
After a 23-minute stint on the field, Civoniceva led the tackle count with 14 and alongside still-grieving front-row cohort Scott he had the most runs with seven.
Meanwhile, Tamou was smashed repeatedly early in the half and miscalculated when he lost the ball with a minute remaining in the half and the Blues just 20m out from the Maroons line.
He fared better in the second half with excellent metres gained, but he also gave away a penalty that put the brakes on a NSW comeback.
Scott was playing for the memory of his mother Dianne, who died 12 days ago.
His effort throughout the game did more than honour her life; it proved the enforcer made the right call to play.
The Maroons’ reserve props Ben Hannant and David Shillington did not perform as well as the starting props, but were solid.
They both had critical dropped balls in the first half, but provided excellent grunt in the second.
Scott and Civoniceva both returned with just over 20 minutes left. Neither made an error and they helped establish the field position for Cooper Cronk’s match-winning field goal.