Down on the scoreboard, down on troops on the bench and down a man in the sin bin, Queensland defied the odds to score two tries in the finals 8 minutes of the game to turn a 2 point deficit into a 26-18 victory in State of Origin Game 1.
The first half was dominated by forward battles, strong defence, poor last tackle options by the Blues and a pair of quick early tries to Queensland.
The Maroons crossed first in the 7th minute when Cameron Munster ran the ball on the last then grubbered through the defensive line where Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow raced through and grounded the ball unchallenged for a try. Valentine Holmes added the extras.
Within 2 minutes, they scored again when Holmes capitalized on Brian To'o slipping over, drawing the defender before sending Selwyn Cobbo in for a try. Holmes failed to convert from the sideline and after 13 minutes, Queensland lead 10-0.
In the 18th minute Tom Gilbert came from the field with a dislocated shoulder after making a tackle. While he was coming off the field Lindsay Collins came on, took a hit up and then the referee realized that Queensland had 14 players on the field, so play was stopped until Gilbert made it off the field.
James Tedesco tried to score himself but was held up over the line superbly by Murray Tualagi and just 4 minutes later, Tyson Frizell barged over only to be denied ingoal by Tualagi again.
In the 31st minute David Fifita had to leave the field for an HIA and immediately after he left, the Blues executed a lovely play on the left side where Nathan Cleary dished a short ball to Jarome Luai who then hit the straight running Liam Martin, and he stormed through the Maroons line and scored under the sticks. Cleary converted. At halftime, Queensland lead 10-6.
It took 4 minutes after the break for the scoreboard attendant to get back to work when a Maroons dropped ball was picked up by Api Koroisau, who saw open space in front of him, so he strolled through it to score. Cleary converted and NSW lead 12-10.
Daly Cherry-Evans kicked a 40/20 to get the Maroons on the front foot in their first set after losing the lead, but a dropped ball ended any hope of scoring.
In the 56th minute, Queensland gained possession after a silly offload by the Blues deep inside their own half saw them turn the ball over. The Maroons sent the ball to the right where Cobbo evaded the cover defence of both Tedesco and To'o to slide in to score a good try. Holmes nailed the sideline conversion and Queensland regained the lead 16-12.
Ten minutes later, a Cleary bomb was strongly contested by his team mates, who regain possession on the Blues line, before Luai held up a nice pass to put Stephen Crichton over for a try. Cleary converted and NSW were back in front 18-16.
What appeared to be a case of Tom Trbojevic falling into the shoulder of Thomas Flegler resulted in Flegler getting ten minutes in the sin bin with 11 minutes remaining in the game. 3 minutes later and the Maroons lost winger Tualagi, who had to leave for an HIA as well. This had zero impact on the Maroons attack though, as they crossed for a try just a minute later when Munster evaded two tackles as he drifted left before getting a stellar pass to Tabuai-Fidow, who stepped Tedesco to race away and score a brilliant try. Holmes converted and Queensland regained the lead 22-18 with 6 minutes remaining.
A short restart by NSW almost came up trumps, but Liam Martin was unable to maintain possession. Two minutes later, Cherry-Evans put up a kick on the right side where Lindsay Collins took it cleanly from Tedesco, spun as he offloaded and hit Munster perfectly in support and he scored to wrap the game up. Holmes narrowly missed the conversion and the Maroons hung on to win a riveting opening Origin encounter by 26-18.