Queensland drew first blood in the State of Origin series with a hard-fought but controverisial 18-10 win over New South Wales in Melbourne.
Greg Inglis was rewarded a disputed try by the video referee to hand the Maroons a decisive lead after they had led 12-10 heading into the final 10 minutes.
It appeared the Queensland centre had knocked on in goal, but video referee Sean Hampstead decided Robbie Farah had kicked the ball out of Inglis' grasp, before he regathered and scored.
Inglis' four-pointer - which took him past Dale Shearer as the leading scorer in Origin history with 13 tries - sealed the contest for the Maroons, who were outplayed for large parts.
New South Wales dominated the opening 20 minutes to lead 4-0 thanks to Akuila Uate's try, but when Michael Jennings was sin-binned for his part in a mass brawl, the momentum swung back to the Maroons.
Darius Boyd scored twice in the latter stages of the opening half as Queensland took a 12-4 lead into half-time.
The Blues came out fired up after the break and should have got more reward than the sole try they got from Jennings.
The match was evenly poised heading into the final half an hour, but when Inglis scored the game was gone for the Blues.
Queensland's victory is the first time in Origin history that a team has won the series opener on four straight occasions and will leave the Blues with plenty to ponder before the second game next month.
