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The 2012 State of Origin series was the 31st time the annual best-of-three series between the Queensland and New South Wales rugby league teams was played entirely under 'state of origin' rules. For the fourth successive year a Queensland victory set a new record for consecutive State of Origin titles, reaching seven. Game I was played at Melbourne's sold out Etihad Stadium and won by Queensland; its television broadcast watched by more than 2.5 million viewers, rating it as the most-watched State of Origin broadcast since the introduction of OzTAM ratings in 1999. New South Wales' series-equalling win in Game II, played at Sydney's sold out ANZ Stadium, set a new TV ratings record for most-watched second game of any series in State of Origin history. The decider, Game III was played at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium and was won by Queensland. This game set a new record for the highest television audience in Australia for a rugby league match since the introduction of the OzTam ratings system in 2001. In 2012, the first year of the independent Australian Rugby League Commission, a new rule was put into place that would set out earlier in a player's career which was his state of origin. For the second successive year, Queensland hosted Game III and New South Wales hosted Game II; typically the states would alternate the hosting of these games. Ricky Stuart stepped down as New South Wales head coach after the series in August, shortly after signing a contract to coach the Parramatta Eels from 2013 onwards. Later in the year New South Wales' player of the series was named: hooker Robbie Farah. 2012 also saw the inaugural Under 20's State of Origin match which was played at Centerbet Stadium, with New South Wales taking out the Darren Lockyer Shield against Queensland. == Game I == The opening game for the New South Wales Blues saw Todd Carney, James Tamou, Tony Williams and Jamie Buhrer make their debuts, with all either having previous international representative or grand final experience. Michael Jennings was the first Origin player in 29 years to be selected to the squad after playing in the reserve grades, where he was dropped from the Penrith Panthers for one game due to poor off-field discipline. Jamie Buhrer from the Manly Sea Eagles was generally the shock selection in the squad, only playing for City Origin earlier in the year as his sole representative honour and was yet to play 50 games for his club, but was selected due to his big game experience, having played in Manly's winning 2011 NRL Grand Final team, and his high utility value to replace their recognised utility in Kurt Gidley who was unable to play in the 2012 series to due a season-long injury. Only 9 of the selected 17 players were incumbent from Game Three in 2011. Queensland's selected side for the first game was largely unchanged from the 2011 series, with only four changes made. Their only debutant was Matt Gillett from the Brisbane Broncos to play a utility role from the bench. It was hooker Cameron Smith's first match and series as the permanent captain for his state, having previously filled in for the role only in Darren Lockyer's absence. 1st half New South Wales held most of the momentum early in the match, and scored first through winger Akuila Uate in the sixth minute of the match, who recovered a bomb kick and scored in the corner; Todd Carney missed the conversion and New South Wales led 4–0. In the twenty-first minute, a brawl erupted; Blues centre Michael Jennings, who ran some distance to leap into the brawl and punch Brent Tate in the head, was sent to the sin bin for ten minutes. The Maroons scored shortly afterwards, with winger Darius Boyd touching down in the corner and Johnathan Thurston converting to give Queensland a 6–4 lead. Boyd scored again in the thirty-eighth minute, and another successful conversion from Thurston gave Queensland a 12–4 lead at halftime. 2nd half New South Wales added points early in the second half, with Jennings scoring a try from a bomb kick; Carney's successful conversion brought the score to 12–10. New South Wales had most of the attack during the second half, but Queensland was able to defend its goal-line and prevent the Blues from scoring; and in the fifty-second minute, Carney narrowly missed a long-range penalty goal attempt which would have levelled the scores at twelve apiece, but after seventy minutes, Queensland still led 12–10.〔 After a repeat set of six in the seventy-third minute, Maroons' centre Greg Inglis crossed the line in controversial circumstances: after recovering the ball from a cross-field kick, Inglis lost control of the ball when it contacted the boot of Blues' hooker Robbie Farah, before regathering and grounding in goal. After a lengthy review, the video referee awarded a try: he ruled that Farah had intentionally played at and kicked the ball out of Inglis' hands, and that Inglis' loss of control was therefore not a knock-on. The try was converted, and there was no further score, giving Queensland 18–10 victory. The decision to award the try to Inglis was highly controversial. Blues captain Paul Gallen argued vehemently with the referee onfield following the decision, although was more circumspect after the match. Inglis' controversial try saw him pass Dale Shearer to become the all-time leading try scorer in State of Origin football. Michael Jennings received a one-match suspension for the punch for which he was sin-binned during the match. It was Queensland's fourth Game One victory in a row, the first time either team had achieved the feat. After the controversial Inglis try call, and others during the game, New South Wales coach Ricky Stuart asked his players not to give interviews to media in the lead-up to Game II, although the ban was lifted after two days. The decision was officially endorsed by referees' coach Bill Harrigan the following day.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2012 State of Origin series」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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