Star Storm prop defends NSW Origin selection
Melissa Woods |
Stefano Utoikamanu has defended his performance in State of Origin II after retaining his place in the NSW squad.
The Melbourne prop missed his flight to Sydney for Origin camp on Monday morning but the Blues have since made alternative travel plans that will ensure he is at their Blue Mountains camp this week.
Utoikamanu divided opinion as he held his position, with calls for in-form South Sydney enforcer Keaon Koloamatangi to be included with the series on the line at Accor Stadium on July 9.
The 25-year-old felt he didn’t deserve to lose his spot, entering the fray at Optus Stadium in Perth with NSW on the back foot.
Utoikamanu came off the bench to clock 27 minutes for the match as the Blues went down in a thriller 26-24, and impeded Queensland’s goal-line defence in the second half which led to an obstruction penalty that denied Nathan Cleary a try.
He also ran for only 41 metres, but was not alone in struggling to roll up the field as wet conditions made it tough for either set of middle forwards to build momentum.
NSW trailed 26-6 at halftime, with Utoikamanu telling AAP it was difficult to make an impact.
“I felt like I didn’t really do too much wrong, I felt like it was pretty hard to kind of go on in the game when everything was kind of going against us,” Utoikamanu said.
“It was pretty hard when I came on, but that’s not an excuse.”
Utoikamanu has been a consistent performer this season since joining from Wests Tigers and came off the bench in Sunday’s 30-6 win over Cronulla.
Playing 31 minutes, he finished with seven runs, 20 tackles and one tackle bust, with his Storm coach Craig Bellamy backing his Origin III inclusion.
Utoikamanu said he would stick to his strengths to help the Blues retain the interstate crown.
“I feel like coming off the bench is a good role for me going into Origin, and I’ve learnt from that (first) game and I’m pretty excited,” he said.
“I’m going to stick to my strengths – I know I’m a strong ball carrier, and in defence just make my tackles – making sure I win my tackles is probably the main thing, and that’s what I’m looking to do.”
Utoikamanu said belief within the NSW outfit was strong given the way they overcame an 8-0 first-half penalty blitz and finished the Perth match by scoring four second-half tries.
“First half we kind of got blown back a bit, but I feel like we had a pretty good second half and came back and anything could have happened,” he said.
“We’re pretty happy with the second half. We know that our discipline needs to be better, and if our discipline’s good we have a good chance of winning that game.”
AAP
