From the boot of Cameron Smith, the 2014 State of Origin series was underway. Debutant halfback Trent Hodkinson fielded the ball, passing to Aaron Woods for the first hit-up.
New South Wales rolled forward with purpose before Queensland worked their way into Blues territory before winning a contentious knock-on call.
From the ensuing scrum Queensland worked the ball to their left. Cronk, to Thurston, cut-out ball to Hodges who sent Darius Boyd sliding into the corner. Thurston missed the conversion and it was 4-0.
Ten minutes in and Queensland looked as if they were travelling smoothly. Then Cooper Cronk went down with a fractured arm. Enter Daly Cherry-Evans.
The Blue stepped it up then. They found more purpose, Hodkinson and Reynolds found their range. Then they went to their right edge. Hayne found space to burn Thurston, attract Inglis and send Josh Morris down the touch-line.
Josh found brother Brett on the inside and Brett slammed it down. Celebrations were muted for the Blues though, with Brett dislocating his shoulder in scoring the try. He popped it back in and continued.
Hodkinson missed the conversion and it was 4-4.
The Blues began to dominate the middle and drew a penalty. Hodkinson stepped up and this time made no mistake with the penalty kick. 6-4 to the Blues.
Once more the Blues went to their right. Again Hayne found space, this time he ran the ball. Beating four defenders, he powered his way over the line. 10-4 to New South Wales at half-time.
NSW started the second half strong, drawing another penalty right in front and again Hodkinson piloted the ball between the sticks.12-4 to the Blues
Queensland though weren't going to die wondering. They went to their left hand side again. Inglis managing to draw both Morris twins before slipping the ball to Boyd. Thurston missed with his second attempt. 12-8, 23 minutes to go.
Queensland ramped up the pressure. Set after set they hammered the Blues' goal-line. Set after set Queensland were repelled.
With his side going nowhere fast, Hayne slipped into dummy-half and broke through the Queensland front-line, racing 60 metres before trying to slip a pass to Tupou.
Again Queensland pressured the Blues. They went to their left hand side again. Boyd got one-on-one with Brett Morris but Morris, busted shoulder and all, held Boyd up before the cavalry arrived to push him into touch.
The pressure on the Blues was relentless. Queensland forced a repeat set with just over one minute to play but the Blue wall stood firm.
Then the Maroons received another penalty and they would have one play to try and score. They went to their left, Cherry-Evans, Thurston to Slater. Slater straightened but Beau Scott was aware and made the grassing tackle with half the NSW team then jumping on top.
That was it, the Blues had held on valiantly 12-8. They've won for the first time in Brisbane since the 2009 dead rubber. It's the Blues' first win in Brisbane when the series was still alive since 2005.
NSW 12: B.Morris 1 try, Hayne 1 try. Hodkinson 2/4 goals.
QLD 8: Boyd 2 tries. Thurston 0/2 goals.
Crowd: 52,111. (104, 222 head count for the Queenslanders.)
Man of the Match: Jarryd Hayne.
See more: http://www.blueblaze.com.au/2014/05/29/4081/blues-win-1
Replies
The Maroons played a pretty simple gameplan and if you take Hayne out of the game I think they win comfortably. The thing about NSW is they try to play how a club footy team would play whilst Qld recognise that Origin is different and you need to play differently.
It really was a case of Hayne v Qld last night. When the Maroons stepped it up in the second half our forward pack had no answer.
Gus Gould was on the money when he said if Hayne wants to win the origin series, Hayne will.
Great start!
When you read Gould's columns on Origin he always nails it. His column a couple days ago was amazing, it made me want to don the Blue and get out there.