With the New South Wales Blues taking a big victory over the Queensland Maroons to keep the 2019 State of Origin series alive, it means we have a decider on our hands.
Origin 3, 2019, is scheduled for Wednesday, July 10, and will be played at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium.
Kick-off in the big game will be set down for 8:10pm (AEST), and based on the rest of this year’s series, we can assume it’ll only be a couple of minutes after that mark, unlike previous years when it’s been often delayed by up to ten minutes.
Teams for the match are expected to be confirmed by coaches Brad Fittler and Kevin Walters on Monday, July 1.
A sellout crowd is expected for the winner-take-all clash, with thousands of tickets being sold in the immediate aftermath of the Blues Game 2 win.
It’ll be the 28th Origin match to be played at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium since rugby league’s biggest matches took up residence there, with the Blues winning 18 of the 27 completed there to date.
It hasn’t been all smooth sailing in the last couple of years, which is hardly a surprise given the Maroons’ complete and utter domination of the Origin concept in the last decade.
Of the last ten matches to be played at Homebush, the Blues have only won six, and it’s been a while since they went on a run of victories at the ground they would ideally like to be a fortress.
In the history of Origin, Queensland have won 17 out of 24 deciders, including all of the last seven, so history suggests the Blues will be up against it to claim their second series win in a row.