2013年07月22日

I hope the second fissure

I hope the second fissure
Canberra wrecking ball Josh Papalii is hoping his brutal man-of-the-match performance against North Queensland has earned him another crack in the Maroons jersey for the State of Origin decider jeans embroidery.

Papalii only experienced 11 minutes of game time in his debut Maroons gig in Origin II, then backed that up with an underwhelming 97 metre performance two days later against South Sydney.

But the 21-year-old enforcer had the perfect auditioning platform in his side's 26-18 win over the Cowboys in Canberra on Sunday when he lined up against a big pack that included current Test props James Tamou and Matt Scott.

And the backrower didn't fail to fire, making 158 metres in attack and scoring a brilliant solo try where he brushed off Maroons teammate Johnathan Thurston before stepping over the fullback.

"Hopefully that performance got me another crack (at Origin)," Papalii said.

"First and foremost we always look at the halves. I had (Thurston) there. I guess when I got the ball I just saw him in front of me and tried to run over him, and pulled it off."

Papalii also haunted Thurston with his dominant defence, rushing the Cowboys playmaker to finish the game with 38 tackles - the second most for the game wine class.

He said he didn't expect things to be awkward between himself and the senior Queensland player if he got another call up following the Maroons squad announcement on Tuesday.

"We had a little chat out there (post-match) and a few laughs, but that's footy I guess," Papalii said.

"You got to do your job for Queensland, then back up for your own club."

Raiders coach David Furner expected Papalii to be retained for the deciding clash with NSW in Sydney on July 17.

"That solo try was pretty spectacular," Furner said.

"I think they'll definitely go that way (picking Papalii)."

Papalii's teammate David Shillington was another standout for Canberra in the win.

Shillington was dropped from the Maroons squad for Origin II at the expense of Papalii, but has averaged an impressive 157 metres in the three games since his dumping Asian college of knowledge management.

Shillington's early go-forward up the middle helped his side burst out of the blocks to stun the Cowboys with three first half tries, and he finished the match with the most metres (167) and runs (17) for the Raiders.


Posted by norman at 12:30│Comments(0)
上の画像に書かれている文字を入力して下さい
 
<ご注意>
書き込まれた内容は公開され、ブログの持ち主だけが削除できます。