Queensland beats New South Wales to win the State of Origin rugby league series in Australia
Before a sellout crowd at the Olympic stadium in Sydney, winger Xavier Coates scored his sixth try in seven Origin appearances to help give Queensland an 8-0 lead in the 18th minute.
Halfback Tom Dearden scored Queensland's second try in the 27th minute and the Maroons led 14-0 after Valentine Holmes again kicked a conversion. Harry Grant muscled his way past three New South Wales defenders to score Queensland's third try in the final minute of the half and send the Maroons to the break with a 20-0 lead.
Center Stephen Crichton got New South Wales on the board with a try in the 56th minute. But Dearden scored his second try of the match with seven minutes remaining to put the match away for the Maroons.
It was the first points Queensland scored in the second half of any of the three Origin matches this year.
Queensland captain Cameron Munster played in the match just days after the sudden death of his father, Steven, last weekend at the age of 58.
New South Wales took a 1-0 lead in the series with an 18-6 win at Brisbane on May 28. Queensland leveled it with a 26-24 victory at Perth on June 18, hanging on after also leading by 20 points at halftime, 26-6.
New South Wales
won last year's series
after beating Queensland 14-4 in the deciding match at Brisbane.
The State of Origin series was first played in 1982 and Queensland has won it 25 times, including eight years in a row from 2006 to 2013. New South Wales has won it 17 times, and there have been two drawn series.
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