Queensland scored three tries off turnovers in the first 25 minutes and went on to beat New South Wales 24-14 on Wednesday to clinch its record fourth straight Australian State of Origin rugby league series.
The Maroons silenced a pro-New South Wales crowd of 80,400 at the former Olympic stadium with its early tries, the first in the sixth minute against the run of play by Billy Inglis and the second when Israel Folau ran through some porous Blues defense about 15 meters out from the try line.
Captain Darren Lockyer scored Queensland's third try in the 24th minute off yet another turnover eight meters from the try line, and Johnathan Thurston kicked his third conversion to give the Maroons an 18-0 lead.
New South Wales scored its first try five minutes later - this time on a Queensland turnover - as Jarryd Hayne ran the length of the field after intercepting a pass and captain Kurt Gidley kicked the conversion.
Hayne scored his second try with a minute left in the half, cutting the deficit to 18-10 at the break. New South Wales made eight errors or turnovers within 30 meters of its goal line.
David Williams crossed in the 62nd minute for New South Wales to pull within four points, but Cameron Smith scored a clinching four-pointer with less than two minutes left to seal the series.
It was Queensland's eighth win in 11 matches over the past four years. Queensland won the first match of the best-of-three series 28-18 in Melbourne on June 3, and the final match is scheduled for Brisbane on July 15.
"We scored a few opportunistic tries early, but in the end, our defense got us through again," said Lockyer.
Smith said Queensland fought desperately to stay in the match in the second half.
"We came in at halftime a little bit disappointed," said Smith. "We knew we were very close to creating history. We were on the back foot for most of the second half, but held on."
Gidley said first-half mistakes cost his side.
"We talked about holding the ball coming out of our own end, and we didn't do that," Gidley said.
