QUEENSLAND have taken a stranglehold of the Origin series after bucking recent history to win 6-4 in Sydney, taking a 1-0 series lead back to Suncorp Stadium for game two.

Ironically it was a relatively simple missed goal from Adam Reynolds that separated the two sides at full-time, with the debutant, brought into the Blues side as much for his kicking prowess as anything else, unable to make it count.

It was a dour struggle, with the second half finishing scoreless after the Maroons went into the sheds at half-time with their noses in front through Dane Gagai’s 37th minute try.

Gagai’s try was one of the few times Queensland’s champion playmakers were able to link up and create some space for their outside men, with Cooper Cronk passing to Johnathan Thurston who held his delivery up for just long enough to commit an extra defender before hitting Darius Boyd, whose quick hands gave Gagai the room to finish off just inside the corner post on the right hand side.

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It was a cruel blow for NSW so close to the break after they had worked immensely hard to turn the momentum in their favour following an ominous start from the champions.

After absorbing multiple attacking sets due to some poor discipline in the opening 20 minutes, the Blues started to make inroads, with Aaron Woods and James Tamou in particular denting Queensland’s defensive line in the middle.

The general play kicking game of Reynolds made a huge difference, regularly finding the grass, while James Maloney tested the Maroons’ edge defenders by taking the ball to the line.

And after 25 minutes it was Maloney who broke the Maroons open, running right to the line and isolating a backpedalling Cronk before a short ball put Boyd Cordner through a hole and over the try line.

It put the Blues in the lead 4-2 after Thurston had potted an early penalty goal but Reynolds was unable to convert from 15 metres inside the left touch line.

While Thurston also missed a sideline conversion after Gagai’s try, it was the Reynolds miss that hurt, with the Blues unable to add to their early score for the rest of the match.

The second half started similarly to the first, with Queensland dominating after getting handed field position by NSW mistakes.

Rookie fullback Matt Moylan looked shaky under the high ball all night, dropping the first kick of the second half to hand the Maroons a chance to extend their lead.

The Blues looked half asleep as Corey Parker very nearly slid away from three soft tacklers to get over the line, with the cover doing just enough to stop him.

The Queenslanders weren’t as ruthless as the side we’ve grown used to, with NSW let off the hook a number of times by poor kicks, particularly from Cronk.

That enabled the Blues to get back on top relatively early in the second half, piling on the pressure with Reynolds and Robbie Farah forcing three drop outs in a short space of time and the Queenslanders giving away penalties as they attempted to slow the pace.

But despite their strong run of possession and field position, genuine try scoring opportunities were hard to come by.

With less than 15 minutes left to play it looked as though Josh Morris had put the Blues in front when he reached out for the line, with the referee going upstairs with a ‘try’ decision.

It was overturned by the bunker when multiple camera angles appeared to show that the ball was kept up over the try line and then pushed back.

The Maroons regathered and closed the game out, with Thurston saving a moment of brilliance for the very end, getting away from a couple of tacklers before forcing a drop out to prevent NSW from a final set to try to snatch the game.

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