The New South Wales Blues have claimed the State of Origin series opener, mounting an incredible comeback during the final 20 minutes after a Kalyn Ponga send off.
Ponga, who had put together an excellent performance during the first hour of the game and was among Queensland's best, was sent off for making direct contact with the head of Tolutau Koula as he made a break down the sideline.
The shoulder charge was ruled as reckless foul play, and left Queensland clinging on with 12 men in the rain.
The Blues, who also bombed a couple of tries during the run to the finish line, managed to find three tries to overcome a 14-point deficit that had earlier been set up by some awful Blues ball handling.
It was James Tedesco who scored the winner for New South Wales, snatching the ball out of the hands of Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow after a Nathan Cleary bomb.
The Blues earlier came up with tries to Cleary, who kicked a 40/20 in the lead up to the try, and Ethan Strange, who was among the Blues' best.
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Queensland had made a fantastic start to the game and led 20 points to 6 with just 22 minutes to go when Ponga was sent off, having galloped to a 20-0 lead in as many minutes during the first 20 minutes.
The Blues, who made a number of handling errors early in the game through Brian To'o, Mitch Barnett and Stephen Crichton, were unable to defend their errors early.
Robert Toia scored the opener for the Maroons off a grubber, before Thomas Flegler went in under the posts untouched following a freakish Harry Grant offload.
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow then scored one of his own off a grubber from Cameron Munster, before a Sam Walker penalty goal made the score 20-0.
The game then went into a grind through the middle 40 minutes, although it always felt as if Queensland had the running without being able to add to the scoreboard.
The Blues' comeback, the greatest of all-time in Origin, means the side will head to Melbourne with a 1-0 lead, while the Maroons will need to find a way to win in Victoria, and then a potential decider in Brisbane.
Match summary
NSW Blues 22 (Tries: Hudson Young, Ethan Strange, Nathan Cleary, James Tedesco; Conversions: Nathan Cleary 3/4) defeat Queensland Maroons 20 (Tries: Robert Toia, Thomas Flegler, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow; Conversions: Sam Walker 3/3; Penalty Goals: Sam Walker 1/1)
