NSW have conquered the cauldron of Suncorp Stadium to claim their first State of Origin series in three years, beating Queensland 14-4 in a brutal decider.
On a night of ferocity and chaos that included a fight spilling off the field and Cameron Murray being sin-binned from the bench, NSW scored twice late to claim a famous win.
The victory marked only the Blues third win in a decider in Brisbane from 13 attempts, with the class of 2024 joining the teams from 1994 and 2005.
But this one didn’t come easy.
Queensland looked as if they had taken charge of the match via a penalty goal in the 63rd minute, with a 4-2 lead in a match that appeared destined to be tryless.
Then the floodgates opened for NSW, with halves Jarome Luai and Mitch Moses providing the two key plays.
Axed after the Blues’ big loss at Suncorp last year, Luai broke the game open when he took a Connor Watson offload in his own half and dummied through.
The Blues five-eighth was able to draw in fullback Reece Walsh, before Bradman Best loomed up in support play and fended off Dane Gagai to score.
“It was unreal,” Best said.
“Jarome did all the hard work and I just finished it off.”
After receiving a penalty in the set after the kick off, the Blues were able to go down field again and Moses stepped Harry Grant and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow to make it a decisive 14-4 lead.
The Blues No.7 later left the field with an apparent bicep injury, but by then NSW’s 19 years of misery at Queensland’s spiritual home had been washed away.
Making NSW’s win even more remarkable is that they suffered their biggest ever loss to Queensland in Sydney Origin I, after Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii was sent off early in the 38-10 defeat.
Their forwards were able to steamroll the Maroons in Melbourne three weeks ago with a 38-18 win, before both sides held firm early on Wednesday night.
In a torrid first half that continually threatened to erupt, both sides struggled to get out of their own end with the packs laying on big hit after big hit.
Emotions eventually spilled over in the 31st minute when Daly Cherry-Evans and Luai clashed, prompting a melee to head over the sideline as television monitors and gym bikes became entangled.
Murray was sin-binned from the bench and Queensland second-rower Jeremiah Nanai joined him, while 19th man Haumole Olakau’atu was removed from the field after becoming involved.
Angus Crichton and Payne Haas were both brilliant for NSW in the early exchanges, while man-of-the-match Dylan Edwards capped a brilliant rookie series at the back.
Queensland’s halves Tom Dearden and Cherry-Evans were both particularly gutsy, regularly holding on for dear life in defence and saving several tries.
But ultimately the Blues were able to overpower the Maroons, locking in only their fifth series win in 19 years.
“Just possession, cheap penalties, cheap errors (hurt us),” hooker Harry Grant said.
“Our defence was good for the majority. But that’s Origin. You can’t slip up. When you do, the opposition takes chances. So I think that was it tonight.”
