Wingers Brian To'o and Zac Lomax have scored try doubles, propelling New South Wales to a shock 38-18 win over Queensland at Melbourne to level the best-of-three series.
The result marked a dramatic turnaround from the series opener, when Blues centre Joseph Suaalii was red-carded for a dangerous tackle and the Maroons overran their shorthanded opponents at Sydney earlier this month.
New coach Michael Maguire made several changes to his line-up, notably introducing Mitchell Moses at half, and his team never allowed Queensland into the contest, unleashing a six-try blitz - five converted by Lomax - for a 34-0 halftime lead.
"Mitch has come in, and did what I believe he is capable of doing and what we all thought he was capable of doing," said Maguire. "He jumped into the campaign straight up when he first walked in.
"He was strong with the way he wanted to play the game, but everyone just jumped on board and did their jobs. Not only Mitch, but Dylan Edwards out the back, I thought he was excellent.
"He has shown that he's an Origin player and I said that from day one, when I first picked him. Payne Haas and Jake [Trbojevic], they laid the platform, so they all just jumped in together and made sure they played their part for the team."
Tensions boiled over in the 50th minute, when Queensland captain Daly Cherry-Evans retaliated to a overzealous tackle from NSW centre Stephen Crichton and the two teams came together. Opposing second-rowers Liam Martin and Patrick Carrigan were both sin-binned for their involvement.
Martin was also cited for dangerous contact on kicker Cherry-Evans later in the match, while NSW centre Latrell Mitchell and Queensland counterpart Valentine Holmes also face fines for dangerous tackles.
"It was a tough first half, felt like we were running uphill and we couldn't stop the momentum of the game," said Queensland coach Billy Slater. "Part of that is on us, and we'll look at our game and work out what we need to adjust, and what we need to go after.
"One thing I do know, there's another game in three weeks now. It's a tough game to play and it's a lot tougher when you're tired, so it snowballed against the team and we just couldn't stop it."
NZ Warriors second-rower Kurt Capewell came off the bench to log 37 minutes in his 10th appearance for Queensland, while clubmate Mitch Barnett remained inactive, as NSW 18th man.
The series decider is scheduled for Brisbane on July 17.
NSW 38 (To'o 2, Lomax 2, Martin, Mitchell, Edwards tries; Lomax 5 conversions) Queensland 18 (Nanai, Tabuai-Fidow, Taulagi tries; Holmes 3 conversions)
