NSW City Origin have held off a stirring comeback from Country to win Sunday’s annual representative clash 24-22 in Mudgee.

Country trailed 24-0 late in the first half, but kept City scoreless after the break with Tariq Sims and Blake Ferguson both scoring two tries apiece after a double from Steve Turner and efforts from Chris Lawrence and Lachlan Coote gave Brad Fittler’s side a fine start.

The match was very much an audition for places in the NSW side, but onlooking coach Ricky Stuart will probably be no closer to deciding on his side for opening clash in Melbourne next month after both sides made a number of errors at the Glen Willows Complex.

One player who did rise to the occasion was Mitchell Pearce, who rubber-stamped his position as NSW halfback with a superb first-half display, while Country’s Todd Carney outpointed City’s Jarryd Hayne in the five-eighth battle.

Former NSW winger Turner scored two tries in four minutes, with his first four-pointer coming after the ball was popped into his path by Joseph Leulia.

Pearce was the architect of his second in the 18th minute when he dispatched a perfectly-weighted grubber-kick into the in-goal area and the Canterbury wide man got in behind Ferguson to touch down.

Robbie Farah, looking to return to the NSW side for the first time since 2009, did his hopes of a recall no harm with a busy performance with the City forwards offloading to great effect.

Penrith fullback Coote and Lawrence also went over with Turner’s successful conversions opening up a comfortable 24-0 lead.

However, on the stroke of halftime, Ferguson raced 90 metres after intercepting a Hayne long pass intended for Leilua and opened Country’s account to get them back into the game.

That try revived Country and Carney came to life after the break following a quiet first period.

The Cronulla man, who was spotted having coffee with Stuart before the match, was a peripheral figure for the first 40 minutes, but played a role in Ferguson’s second and then created Sims’ first with a brilliant sidestep.

Sims barged over for a second 10 minutes from time, but City held on, with Hayne finishing the game on the wing and Feleti Mateo taking over at five-eighth.