New South Wales fightback stuns Queensland in epic

ByElizabeth Hudson

BBC Sport Journalist

State of Origin - game one

New South Wales (6) 22

Tries: Young, Strange, Cleary, Tedesco Goals: Cleary 3

Queensland (20) 20

Tries: Toia, Flegler, Habuai-Fidow Goals: Walker 4

New South Wales staged the greatest comeback in State of Origin history following the pivotal dismissal of Queensland's Kalyn Ponga as the Blues won a dramatic opening game of this year's series.

Ponga became the seventh player to be sent off in Origin matches when he was dismissed for a high tackle on wing Tolutau Koula with 23 minutes left to play and the full-back's side leading 20-6.

NSW half-backs Ethan Strange and Nathan Cleary then scored tries, with the latter converting his, to reduce the deficit to 20-16 and set up a grandstand finish at Sydney's Accor Stadium.

The 12-man Maroons defended valiantly and looked to have withstood the Blues' pressure but in the 78th minute veteran James Tedesco outjumped stand-in full-back Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow to grab Cleary's superb high kick and ground the ball to tie the scores.

It presented Cleary with a relatively straightforward conversion and, after a false start that increased the tension, he stroked the ball over in the pouring rain to seal victory in the first game of the best-of-three series.

Game two will take place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 17 June with the third match at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium on 8 July.

The Maroons, who won last year's series 2-1, made a whirlwind start with three tries in the space of eight minutes during the opening quarter.

Robert Toia latched on to a pinpoint kick from his Sydney Roosters team-mate Sam Walker to open the scoring.

Walker also set up the second try, passing for Robert Flegler to crash over under the posts and complete a fairytale comeback after he missed most of the 2024 season and all of the 2025 campaign with a shoulder injury.

Tabuai-Fidow continued his superb scoring record in Origin matches with his 12th try in 11 games, and with Walker converting all three as well as adding a penalty, Queensland were cruising at 20-0 and NSW were shell-shocked

Victor Radley came off the bench for NSW to create history by becoming the first England international to play in the fixture after a change in eligibility rules.

Radley, who was born in Sydney and has an English father, has played in nine Tests for England but was previously unable to represent the Blues because of his international allegiance.

Radley made some trademark big hits as the Blues regrouped and with their first real chance, Cleary kicked through for Hudson Young to touch down and give themselves hope at 20-6 down at half-time.

The contentious dismissal of Ponga proved the turning point and former Australia and New South Wales captain Tedesco, 33, brilliantly gathered Cleary's steepling kick to set up the winning conversion.