NSW clinch State of Origin opener as Connor Watson basketball pass, Dylan Edwards try ice victory at Suncorp

NSW utility Connor Watson sealed victory for the Blues in the State of Origin opener at Suncorp Stadium when he produced a basketball pass with four Queensland defenders hanging off him to set up a Dylan Edwards try.

As the Blues raided the Maroons' try line in their third set of six in a row, Watson had Patrick Carrigan, Tom Dearden, Kalyn Ponga and Tino Fa'asuamaleaui hanging off him when he managed to offload to Edwards, who crashed over to extend the visitors' lead to 18-6 with seven minutes remaining on Wednesday night.

The play began with Nathan Cleary putting up a kick on the right edge and Zac Lomax jumping to catch the ball unopposed aerially, plucking the footy from the Brisbane sky as Valentine Holmes, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Beau Fermor, bemusedly, did nothing but watch.

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The footy squirted out of Lomax's hands as he was slammed on his back by Fermor and Tabuai-Fidow, before Watson pounced on the loose ball and combined with Edwards to put the result beyond doubt.

The 18-6 victory, secured in front of a 52,483-strong crowd, gave NSW back-to-back wins in Queensland for the first time since 1997-98.

The Maroons will be ruing several unforced errors from the second half when they review the game, including a disastrous last-tackle play with 10 minutes to go when lock forward Carrigan ended up with the ball as first receiver. Carrigan passed hurriedly to Daly Cherry-Evans, who threw a forward pass.

The Blues marched up the field on the back of that bungled set finish, had two sets restarted, one of which was renewed on the fourth tackle, and iced the game when Watson and Edwards linked up.

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A couple of minutes before that Maroons malfunction, Queensland botched a prime try-scoring opportunity deep in NSW territory when Dearden threw an indecisive pass from dummy-half. Moeaki Fotuaika dropped the pass, which may have been intended to go to Carrigan.

Controversy struck on the stroke of half-time when NSW winger Brian To'o was sin-binned for tackling Xavier Coates mid-air as the Queensland flyer tried to catch a cross-field kick.

Queensland capitalised on NSW being a man down for the first 10 minutes of the second half when Coates crossed for a try on the right wing, where To'o would have been defending if he hadn't been sin-binned.

Coates' try was scored on the back of a crunching hit by Jeremiah Nanai, who thumped Latrell Mitchell under the ball as the NSW centre carried the footy out of yardage, forcing the ball loose.

The Maroons spread the ball to the right and 20-year-old centre Robert Toia, making his Origin debut with just 10 games of NRL experience, got the ball to Coates with a flick pass.

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Coates' try cut the deficit to 14-6 in the 46th minute, and after a 27-minute arm wrestle in which a lot of ball was dropped in a scrappy second half, NSW crushed Queensland hearts when Edwards crashed over.

The Blues opened the scoring through a Cleary penalty goal in the 10th minute, which came on the back of a Fotuaika strip on Mitch Barnett after the referee had called held.

Lomax bagged a first-half double and To'o grabbed a try of his own.

The To'o try was set up by a sublime pass by Mitchell, who caught and dished off a Mitchell Moses pass in one swift motion.

Holmes then kicked a penalty goal after To'o was sin-binned as the Blues headed to the sheds at half-time leading 14-6.

Man of the match was awarded to NSW front-rower Payne Haas, who racked up 154 run metres from 18 hit-ups, as well as five tackle breaks and 18 tackles.

NSW will aim to claim the series, and retain the Origin shield, at Perth's Optus Stadium on June 18.