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| - Queensland, fielding eight debutants, stunned fancied New South Wales with a second-half fight-back to take first blood in the best-of-three State of Origin rugby league series in Adelaide on Wednesday. The Maroons, coached by the legendary Wayne Bennett after a 17-year absence from Origin football, stormed back from 10-0 down at half-time to knock over the Blues 18-14. Queensland's upset win is a great tonic for their chances of preventing NSW from winning a third consecutive series and comes as they transition from the retirement of the champion players, Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk, Cameron Smith and Greg Inglis. Seventy-year-old Bennett, who only came in late in the season when Kevin Walters was appointed the new coach of the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL, turned things around during the half-time break. Queensland, who trailled to first-half tries by Damien Cook and Josh Addo-Carr, looked a different outfit as they turned tide with three tries in 15 minutes with skipper and man-of-the-match Daly Cherry-Evans landing three conversions. "I never have been coached by Wayne before and he has a presence about him," Cherry-Evans said of Bennett, a long-time former coach of the Broncos who also handled St George Illawarra Dragons, the Newcastle Knights and the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL, while also enjoying coaching spells with England and Great Britain. "He told us to be more direct. Once we got those messages and clarity, I thought that we found our groove." Kurt Capewell triggered the revival when he broke clear and kicked ahead for fullback AJ Brimson to win the chase and score. The Maroons were in again four minutes later when Dane Gagai broke clear of Jack Wighton's tackle and sent youngster Xavier Coates surging down the sideline to score, Cherry-Evans' conversion putting his side in front at 12-10. Queensland were in again with stand-off Cameron Munster swooping on a loose pass and holding off Cook to the try-line to give his side an eight-point buffer with 15 minutes left. NSW closed to within four points with Addo-Carr's second try with four minutes left, but the Maroons saw out the final minutes to pull off a stirring win. "There is a lot of hunger in the group and no one gave us a chance tonight," Munster said. "We just dug deep, just completing our sets and kicking to the corners and that is what we did." The Blues are bidding to win their third straight Origin series after a gripping 26-20 victory in last year's final game for NSW's first back-to-back series win since 2005. The series continues next week with the second game in Sydney before the final match in Brisbane on November 18. rsm/lp
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