BBC SPORT | Rugby League | Angry Aussies blame Brazil

"The way we played the 80 minutes, I don't think another 10 minutes each way is really going to hurt us," lamented Blues skipper Andrew Johns.

Sydney's tabloid Daily Telegraph said the series decider was one of the "great games in Origin history ... before it fell into a black hole of anti-climax."

The Sydney Morning Herald's back page headline also raged about how six weeks of representative football had ended so limply.

"Origin farce: no time for winners," it screamed.

Queensland retain the inter-state shield as it stays with the holders after a drawn series.

New South Wales coach Phil Gould was fuming and felt his team deserved the chance to take on the Maroons in extra-time.

"It's just a ridiculous system in the extreme - we should still be out there playing," he said.

Queensland square series

In an error-strewn match, both sides led in the final five minutes before Maroons second-rower Dane Carlaw scored the game-tying try, 42 seconds from full-time.

"Blues crushed by last-minute try from hell," read another mournful headline in the Herald.

"The one thing I have tried to impress on the players since full-time is we didn't lose this series," Gould added.

Dejected Blues captain Andrew Johns
NSW captain Andrew Johns wanted extra-time
And he suggested extra time and a golden point could prevent further discord in the future.

The Australian Rugby League will consider changing the rules. As well it might. No sporting body can ignore thousands of disgruntled fans as well as dissatisfied players.

Andrew Johns said he felt "empty" that the match had failed to produce a clear winner.

Radio phone-ins have been dominated by callers angry at being short-changed at one of Australia's premier sporting events.

A casual survey revealed "gutted", "cheated" and "criminal" as weapons of choice by those attacking rugby league bosses over the airwaves.

In truth, the Origin decider had been relegated to an earlier time slot by commercial television to accommodate the World Cup semi-final.

Choking rush-hour traffic in Sydney's western suburbs left thousands of fans battling to make it to Stadium Australia on time for the unusually early kick-off.

There was a sense that the rugby was being served up as a warm-up to the main event in Saitama.

NSW take Origin opener

That game was beamed onto two giant screens in the former Olympic stadium as soon as the Blues and Maroons had trooped off the field.

Only a few hundred brave souls stayed behind to watch. The bad taste left by such an inconclusive result - only the second drawn series in Origin history - had dampened the enthusiasm of the crowd.

A bitterly cold winter's evening in Sydney finished off the waverers.

For those who did stay, there was further disappointment as the drama in Japan unfolded.

To discourage rowdiness, the beer at Stadium Australia was turned off early.


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