New South Wales take State of Origin series lead
New South Wales beat Queensland 18-6 at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane to take a 1-0 series lead in the State of Origin. The Blues scored three first-half tries, with winger Zac Lomax grabbing two and Brian To'o the other. That left the Maroons with a mountain to climb but Xavier Coates cut the deficit in the second half after capitalising on a handling error by Latrell Mitchell. But any hope the Maroons had of a late comeback were quashed seven minutes from time as Lomax found Connor Watson after a brilliant one-handed take, who set-up full-back Dylan Edwards to go over. "That was massive, the way that we started - our fight and courage was unbelievable," said Lomax.The victory means defending champions New South Wales claimed back-to-back wins at the Suncorp Stadium for the first time since 1998. Queensland must win in game two in Perth on 18 June to keep the series alive before game three in Sydney on 9 July.
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