The Queensland Maroons took a big leap towards their fifth State of Origin title in a row as they won away in Sydney.

Atrocious conditions were the name of the day for the start of the State of Origin in front of a packed house Queensland kicked off with the Blues fielding and in the first few minutes we were surprised at the lack of errors, however on 3 minutes the Maroons spilled a kick right on their line but their defence held firm and a penalty allowed them to clear their lines. The name of the game was high up and unders by the Blues and on 8 minutes they were rewarded when a mix up and spilt kick catch saw Jarryd Hayne pounce on the loose ball, Jamie Lyon added the extras 6-0, The Maroons were stringing passes together and looking the more fluid running side and they got their reward on 15 minutes when the defence was outflanked and Darius Boyd dotted down, Jonathan Thurston adding the extras 6-6. Both sides were making errors however the next points came thanks to an error from the officials as the Maroons were adjudged to have played the ball forward from a kick and thus offside was awarded and Lyon took the 2 points on offer 29 minutes 8-6. The half was coming to a close and the error count stood at 4-6 when a kick through by the Maroons was missed by the Blues defence and Billy Slater pounced to score. Thurston added the 2 points and so the Maroons took the lead on 35 mins and this score of 8-12 held till half-time.

The second period and you felt if the Maroons scored first they would run away with it, so when on 48 minutes poor defence allowed Darren Lockyer to take the gap, the conversion was missed and so the score moved to 8-16. Now it was crucial for the Blues to score next and another error from a kick saw Anthony Watmough over on 57 minutes, with the conversion from Lyon the score was 14-16 and all to play for again. The next 10 minutes and the Maroons took the game away with tries on 62 minutes by Greg Inglis and 67 by Sam Thaiday with conversions by Thurston saw the score out to 14-28 and with just 10 minutes on the clock game over. However the Blues were not done and scored two late tries by Jamal Idris and a lucky one by Ben Creagh with one conversion brought us the final score of:

NSW Aussie Blues 24-28 Queensland Maroons.

Scorers

New South Wales
Tries: Hayne, Watmough, Idris, Creagh
Goals: Lyon 4

Queensland
Tries: Boyd, Slater, Lockyer, Inglis, Thaiday
Goals: Thurston 4

Teams

NSW: Kurt Gidley (c); Brett Morris, Matt Cooper, Timana Tahu, Jarryd Hayne; Jamie Lyon, Brett Kimmorley; Michael Weyman, Michael Ennis, Josh Perry; Trent Waterhouse, Ben Creagh; Anthony Watmough.
Replacements: Jamal Idris, Tom Learoyd-Lahrs, Luke Lewis, Brett White.

Queensland: Billy Slater; Darius Boyd, Greg Inglis, Willie Tonga, Israel Folau; Darren Lockyer (c), Johnathan Thurston; Matthew Scott, Matt Ballin, Petero Civoniceva; Nate Myles, Sam Thaiday; Ashley Harrison.
Replacements: Cooper Cronk, David Shillington, Neville Costigan, David Taylor.

Attendance 68,735

The two teams meet in the second game of the series in Brisbane on 16 June.