The Blues beat the Maroons in Brisbane in back-to-back years for first time since 1997-98 to take 1-0 lead in 2025 State of Origin; Super League season continues with Huddersfield Giants vs Leigh Leopards, live on Sky Sports Action on Thursday from 7.30pm (KO, 8pm)
Last Updated: 28/05/25 1:53pm
Zac Lomax (L) scored two tries for New South Wales as they opened the 2025 State of Origin with victory in Queensland
New South Wales romped to a convincing 18-6 opening victory over Queensland to open the 2025 State of Origin series, winning in Brisbane for the second year running.
New South Wales scored three first-half tries – two for Zac Lomax, either side of Brian To’o’s – as the holders streaked clear to hold a 14-2 advantage at the interval.
The match briefly threatened to spark into life early in the second half as Queensland scored their only try during the opening 10 minutes, with To’o in the sin bin for a professional foul on Xavier Coates.
It was Coates who ultimately went over the line for the Maroons, a handling error by New South Wales’ Latrell Mitchell leading to the try that cut the deficit to 14-6.
But victory was sealed with seven minutes to go with a try for full-back Dylan Edwards after a brilliant hand-off by Connor Watson when seemingly wrapped up by three Queensland defenders.
The Blues – favourites for this year’s series – could and perhaps should have won by a greater margin, but for kicking errors that saw them convert just one of five attempts at goal.
It is the first time since 1997-98 that New South Wales have won back-to-back games at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.
As the series now heads for the neutral venue of the Optus Stadium in Perth (June 18) and then to the Accor Stadium in Sydney (July 9) it opens up the very real possibility of a series sweep for the Blues.
There have only been two clean sweeps in the men’s State of Origin series since the turn of the millenium, with New South Wales winning 3-0 in 2000 and the last instance seeing Queensland victorious by the same margin 15 years ago in 2010.
Sky Sports will again show every game of Super League live this season – including two matches in each round exclusively live, with the remaining four matches each week shown on Sky Sports+ via the red button.
