A second-half masterclass from New South Wales has set up a State of Origin decider against Queensland, with an emphatic game two victory at Perth.
The Blues ran out 44-12 winners in a game of two halves, after grabbing a narrow 14-12 lead at halftime, with a try right before the break.
The opening minutes produced plenty of intense collisions, with neither side letting up physically, but NSW opened the scoring through Nathan Cleary's boot, after back-to-back penalties against the Maroons.
Queensland winger Selwyn Cobbo fluffed a glorious opportunity to grab the game's first try, after Brian To'o misjudged a rolling grubber kick, but Cobbo could only bounce the ball over the line.
The Maroons would grab their next opportunity, as Kalyn Ponga found a surging Felise Kaufusi with a beautiful offload in the tackle to send him over for the first try, much to the protests of the NSW players for a forward pass.
Junior Paulo made an immediate impact off the bench with a couple of powerful runs, before Cleary found debutant Matt Burton with a grubber kick to score in his Blues debut.
Ponga would again cause the Blues headaches with another blistering run, as he beat Stephen Crichton for pace, before linking with Valentine Holmes to send a supporting Cameron Munster over for the try.
That was as good as it got for the Maroons, who were soon down a man, when Kaufusi was sin-binned, after a series of penalties and repeat sets for NSW.
The Blues would make the advantage pay off almost immediately, as Burton found To'o with a beautifully weighted pass to cross in the corner for the try for the halftime lead.
NSW picked up where they left off in the second half, with Daniel Tupou going over, after waves of Blues attacks saw Cleary find his winger with a crisp cutout pass.
Jarome Luai produced a brilliant piece of individual magic, showing great feet to beat Jeremiah Nanai and score a try from seemingly nothing.
Cleary would then score two tries in as many minutes, after getting the better of Ponga on both occasions in a man-of-the-match performance.
Angus Crichton would cap off proceedings with a try of his own, after Cricthon bounced out of a would-be-tackler to send the replacement over for an easy stroll.
NSW 44 (Cleary 2, Burton, To'o, Tupou, Luai, A Crichton tries, Cleary 7 conversions, penalty goal) Queensland 12 (Kaufusi, Munster tries, Holmes 2 conversions)
