Former New South Wales coach Phil Gould says Wednesday night’s defensive effort against Queensland was one of the best he has ever seen as the Blues emphatically beat the Maroons 28-4.

“What a pleasure it was to witness such a stunning NSW team performance,” he wrote on the Wide World of Sports website.

“Sure, many will temper their praise, based on the fact that the Maroons were missing several of their legendary players. Fair enough too. There will always be that asterisk alongside the result.

“However, when you have an Origin team completing 35 sets of six from 39 opportunities with the ball, whilst at the same time producing such rapid ball movement and executing an attacking game plan with such precision, I’m not so sure that NSW wouldn’t have beaten any Queensland team on that performance.

“On top of their perfectly executed attacking game, NSW produced a relentless, resilient, 80-minute defensive effort that rivalled anything I’ve ever seen from a Blues team of any era. They conceded only one try, and that came from a 5th tackle cross-field kick. Even when the result was well beyond doubt in the latter stages of the contest, the Blues were swarming and scrambling in defence, denying the Queenslanders easy passage-way to the try line.

“It was brilliant stuff.”