Blue-wash

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New South Wales v Queensland

New South Wales produced a near perfect first half of State of Origin football to lead 34-0 at the break, the biggest ever halftime lead in Origin history.

Queensland fought back admirably in the second half, scoring 18-8 but the mountain they had to climb to win this match was too great.

Three repeat sets for New South Wales on the Queensland line eventually was too much and in the 11th minute, Mitch Moses was out on the right side, shaped to hit the trailing runner with a pass, but held the pass up before sending a lovely short ball to his lead runner Liam Martin, who straightened his run as he received the pass, busted through the line and scored. Zac Lomax converted.

A lovely piece of draw and pass by Latrell Mitchell gave the unmarked Brian To'o a narrow corridor, and he dived over in the corner to bag the Blue's second try in the 19th minute. Lomax added the extras.

The points started to flow for the Blues from this point as their mountain of possession and field position was too much for the Maroons defence.

In the 24th minute, a flat-footed Moses kicked to the right corner where Lomax leapt high, took the catch over his head cleanly and planted the ball down for a spectacular try. Lomax failed to convert his own try.

Five minutes later, Moses at first receiver grubbered through and To'o pounced on the ball to score his second try. Lomax converted from the sideline.

In the 32nd minute Angus Crichton backed into the line and then flicked a pass to Dylan Edwards who made a break before sending the ball to Latrell Mitchell who scored out wide. Lomax converted from the left sideline again.

On the stroke of halftime, the Blues crossed once more when Stephen Crichton sent a good ball out to the unmarked Lomax who dived over to score untouched. Lomax converted and at halftime, New South Wales held a 34-0 lead.

Tempers got the better of players 10 minutes into the second half, with referee Ashley Klein sending both Liam Martin and Patrick Carrigan to the sin bin. Three minutes later, Queensland finally got on the board when Jeremiah Nanai stormed onto a lovely short ball from Daly Cherry-Evans, barging over to score. Valentine Holmes converted.

The Maroons crossed again just 5 minutes later when Murray Taulagi got into some space on the short side before kicking downtown, where Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow got a nice bounce, which he regathered cleanly to score. Holmes converted.

The Blues struck back in the 62nd minute when Dylan Edwards got outside his defender and then past him with pace to score on the right side. Lomax failed to convert.

In the 70th minute, Cherry-Evans sent a long cut-out pass to the unmarked Taulagi, who crossed for a try which Holmes converted, giving some respectability to the scoreboard in a largely lopsided contest.

New South Wales cruising to a 38-18 victory in front of 90084 spectators.