The tables turned on Queensland yesterday when New South Wales took the field at Suncorp Stadium, in front of over 50,000 onlookers in State of Origin’s Game 1.
The home side managed to get one try home, but that was all they could get on the scoreboard.
It was already hinted prior to the game by critics; the Blues will walk away with a win. But who would have thought, the margin would be 24 points.
With the absence of Jonathan Thurston and Greg Inglis, and Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk alone with Anthony Milford could not pull off wonders for the Maroons.
The opening try for the Blues came in the 6th minute, when a Fifita-Pierce assist saw James Maloney go over the try line, right under the post. Minutes later another try followed.
The Queenslanders responded with a try but that was all the fight they could do for the scoreline.
At halftime, the score stood at 12 – 4 in favour of New South Wales.
The second half saw attacks from the home side that went begging.
New South Wales pulled off saves and put up walls of defense that kept them off the Blues try line. This was despite tremendous efforts from the likes of Cronk and Milford. Then three more Blues tries occurred and no response from the Queenslanders.
In the dying minutes of the match, Darius Boyd’s attempt at lessening the margin failed, thanks to a Boyd Cordner made a classic save, that held off the Maroons from scoring.
By the full-time buzzer, the scoreline stood at 28 – 4 in favor of New South Wales.
That victory was NSW biggest win ever in Origin history.
