Relive 1 NEWS NOW's live coverage of tonight's State of Origin opener between the Queensland Maroons and NSW Blues at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.
FULLTIME - MAROONS 18 BLUES 14
Too little too late for the NSW Blues as Nathan Cleary attempts a chip kick for his winger Nick Cotric down the right hand corner, but he has overcooked it as it bounces over the touchline.
A deserved win for the Queensland Maroons as the NSW Blues went missing in the middle stages of the second spell. The Maroons now lead the series 1-0.
76 mins: MAROONS 18 BLUES 14
TRY! Cody Walker creates an opportunity for the Blues taking on the line in the final tackle and he gets the ball to Cameron Murray who offloads the ball to Jake Trbojevic who goes over to score under the goal posts.
Nathan Cleary converts his kick at goal and his team trail by just four-points.
71 mins: MAROONS 18 BLUES 8
TRY! Dane Gagai is in again! Kalyn Ponga throws a perfect bullet pass to Gagai and he dives in to score down the right edge.
Ponga makes no mistake this time as he curves the ball through the uprights.
70 mins: MAROONS 12 BLUES 8
KNOCK-ON! James Tedesco takes the ball on a full and he puts on some footwork at the line, but he drops the ball cold. The Maroons have the ball on the Blues' 20m line.
67 mins: MAROONS 12 BLUES 8
INTERCEPT TRY! Dane Gagai comes up with a clutch play! NSW reserve back Jack Wighton attempts an offload to Josh Addo-Carr 5m out from the Maroons' goal-line and Gagai intercepts the ball. There is no one in front of Gagai and he goes 95m to score and gives Queensland a four-point lead.
Kalyn Ponga is off target with his conversion kick from the sideline. The Blues return to 13 men with Latrell Mitchell back on the field.
65 mins: MAROONS 8 BLUES 8
CHARGE DOWN! Matt Gillet attempts a charge down and the ball goes into touch. The NSW Blues get another set, a huge moment in the match just as it looked like the Maroons were starting to take over and looked like they were going to score.
59 mins: MAROONS 8 BLUES 8
TWO! The scores are level as Kalyn Ponga nails his penalty kick at goal with ease, pretty much a sitter in front of the posts.
58 mins: MAROONS 6 BLUES 8
SIN BIN! Latrell Mitchell has been sent to the bin for a professional foul, after tackling Maroons second rower Matt Gillett early just as he was attempting to regather the ball.
The momentum has swung in the Maroons favour with the crowd playing a big part.
56 mins: MAROONS 6 BLUES 8
NO TRY! Maroons centre Michael Morgan has finds his way over the Blues' in-goal but he is held up. Some great scrabble defence from the visitors, James Tedesco played a big part in denying the Queenslanders their second try.
55 mins: MAROONS 6 BLUES 8
PENALTY! NSW Blues rookie Payne Haas has a brain explosion, gives away an unnecessary penalty after holding and dragging David Fifita to the ground as he was about to play the ball.
53 mins: MAROONS 6 BLUES 8
TRY! No mistake this time by the Maroons' left winger Corey Oates as he soars over the left hand corner to score! It was a great wrap around play by Kalyn Ponga, who throws a perfect skip pass for Corey Oates to score Queensland's first try.
Kalyn Ponga is on target with his kick from the sideline as the ball grazes the left hand upright and bounces over!
51 mins: MAROONS 0 BLUES 8
GOAL-LINE DROP OUT! A dominant set from the Queensland Maroons, the Blues are really on the back foot here, Josh Morris tries to run it out of his own red zone and the Maroons drag him back and tackle him in the in-goal.
45 mins: MAROONS 0 BLUES 8
KNOCK-ON! Blues reserve forward Cameron Murray attempts a quick play of the ball and he drops the ball cold. A lucky escape for Queensland.
44 mins: MAROONS 0 BLUES 8
PENALTY! A silly play by Maroons lock Josh McGuire who is penalised for slowing down the play. The Blues kick the ball into touch and they are the attack on Queensland's 20m line.
40 mins: MAROONS 0 BLUES 8
And we are back! Latrell Mitchell kicks off towards the Maroons and Dylan Napa has the first hit up in the second half.
HALFTIME - MAROONS 0 BLUES 8
Josh Morris scored the only try in the first spell. The Maroons have butchered three tries in the first half, but the Blues have been relentless on defence.
Cameron Munster has been on fire for Queensland making a number of line-breaks in the first half. NSW Blues' forward pack have been solid getting their side on the front foot. James Tedesco has also been on fire, creating plenty off opportunities for the Blues on attack with his footwork and passing game.
39 mins: MAROONS 0 BLUES 8
DEFENCE! The NSW Blues hold out the Maroons' attack! A poor final play of the set by Queensland as they butcher another try-scoring opportunity.
36 mins: MAROONS 0 BLUES 8
A great play by Ben Hunt who attempts a 40/20 and James Tedesco is forced to play at it. He can't get the ball back into play and the Maroons have an attacking scrum on the Blues' 20m line.
35 mins: MAROONS 0 BLUES 8
TACKLE! Will Chambers puts in a thumping tackle on his opposite Latrell Mitchell, a bit of payback from last year. It was the final tackle so the Blues have to hand it over.
31 mins: MAROONS 0 BLUES 8
Cameron Munster makes a brilliant run from halfway, he fools several NSW defenders with some clever dummies and steps. Munster fires a perfect pass to his centre Will Chambers down the right edge but he is tackled 5m short of the try-line. He attempts a miracle offload but the ref rules that his pass went forward.
29 mins: MAROONS 0 BLUES 8
NO TRY! Daly Cherry-Evans puts in a pin-point grubber which hits the left goal posts and the ball is toed forward by Joe Ofahengaue. Dylan Napa gets to the ball first and the TMO rules that the Maroons forward had no control of the ball as he attempted to ground it.
27 mins: MAROONS 0 BLUES 8
PENALTY! James Tedesco makes a brilliant try saving tackle on his opposite Kalyn Ponga and he is penalised for hanging on too long in the tackle.
20 mins: MAROONS 0 BLUES 8
TRY! Josh Morris powers out of two tackles to score down the right edge for the Blues. It all started with a sensational play from James Tedesco who created an overlap after stepping around Cameron Munster before giving the ball to Morris.
Nathan Cleary curves it around and his conversion attempt is on target.
19 mins: MAROONS 0 BLUES 2
NO TRY! Blues hooker Damien Cook stabs in a clever grubber in Queensland's in-goal and Cameron Munster bobbles it. He manages to ground it just in time before James Tedesco and Tyson Frizell got a hand to it.
17 mins: MAROONS 0 BLUES 2
NO TRY! Corey Oates is ruled to have a foot in touch as he dived over the left hand corner. It all started with a superb run by Will Chambers down the right edge for the Maroons, before they spread it wide to Oates. The Blues were let off the hook there!
12 mins: MAROONS 0 BLUES 2
TWO! NSW Blues skipper Boyd Cordner makes a strong run into the Maroons' 10m line and the referee blows his whistle! The Maroons are penalised for slowing down the play of the ball and Nathan Cleary kicks the visitors in front.
11 mins: MAROONS 0 BLUES 0
MISTAKE! The first break in the match as Dane Gagai has been ruled to have knocked the ball on just inside his own 30m line. The Blues have the feed into the scrum.
7 mins: MAROONS 0 BLUES 0
NO TRY! The Blues have a chance here to score as Nathan Cleary decides to put in a grubber kick early in the set. James Tedesco is the only one chasing but Cleary has overcooked it as the ball goes rolling over the dead ball line.
6 mins: MAROONS 0 BLUES 0
Blues hooker Damien Cook is starting to find some holes in the Maroons' defence, making several darting runs from dummy half. This is probably the Blues' best set in the match so far as they work their way into Queensland's redzone.
3 mins: MAROONS 0 BLUES 0
What a start! Both teams complete their opening sets with no mistakes, but Queensland are getting themselves in better positions at the end of it.
NSW Blues are really struggling to get out of their half.
MAROONS 0 BLUES 0
KICK-OFF! Kalyn Ponga gets things started with a deep kick-off towards the Blues! David Klemmer has the first run for the Blues and he is hit hard just inside his own 10m line.
PRE-MATCH:
Last year the NSW Blues took out the Origin series 2-1 against their fierce rivals the Maroons.
But the Blues team have the tough task of challenging Queensland at home in Game I in Brisbane. They have several changes in their team from last year's campaign.
Rabbitohs half Cody Walker has been in hot form in the NRL and replaces James Maloney in the No.6 jersey, Walker partners up with Panthers star Nathan Cleary in the Blues halves.
Josh Morris returns to the Origin arena in the centres for the Blues, named alongside NRL star Latrell Mitchell.
After a successful Origin debut last year off the bench, Kalyn Ponga gets the nod to start at fullback for the home team.
Daly Cherry-Evans has been named to skipper the Maroons and will partner up with Cameron Munster in the halves.
The Blues have a considerably bigger forward pack than their rivals with the likes of David Klemmer, Paul Vaughan and Tyson Frizell named in the starting team.
TEAMS:
Queensland Maroons: 1 Kalyn Ponga, 2 Corey Oates, 3 Michael Morgan, 4 Will Chambers, 5 Dane Gagai, 6 Cameron Munster, 7 Daly Cherry-Evans, 8 Jai Arrow, 9 Ben Hunt, 10 Josh Papali’i, 11 Felise Kaufusi, 12 Matt Gillett, 13 Josh McGuire.
Interchange: 14 Moses Mbye, 15 Joe Ofahengaue, 16 Dylan Napa, 17 David Fifita.
NSW Blues: 1 James Tedesco, 2 Nick Cotric, 3 Latrell Mitchell, 4 Josh Morris, 5 Josh Addo-Carr, 6 Cody Walker, 7 Nathan Cleary, 8 David Klemmer, 9 Damien Cook, 10 Paul Vaughan, 11 Boyd Cordner, 12 Tyson Frizell, 13 Jake Trbojevic.
Interchange: 14 Jack Wighton, 15 Payne Haas, 16 Cameron Murray, 17 Angus Crichton.
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