- NSW and QLD meet in the opening State of Origin clash for 2015 on Wednesday night at ANZ Stadium
- The Blues have won four of the last five games at the venue
- QLD have won eight of the last nine series, with NSW breaking their drought last year
NSW take on QLD on Wednesday night at ANZ Stadium.
New South Wales will be looking to get their State of Origin series defence off to the perfect start when they play host to Queensland in this year’s opening game on Wednesday night.
NSW won the opening two games of 2014 to clinch their first series win since 2005, with Trent Hodkinson scoring the match-winning try in Game 2 at ANZ Stadium.
We return to that venue for Game 1 in 2015, with the game scheduled to kick off at ANZ Stadium at 8.10pm AEST. It will be broadcast live on Channel Nine in Australia and will also be available to stream live online.
These two states have enjoyed an epic rivalry over the years and that is set to continue on Wednesday night. Only QLD’s unprecedented dominance over the last decade has seen them stride out to a 54-46 overall match record lead, with two draws.
The Maroons have won eight of the last nine series and emerged victorious in 19 of the 30 matches over that period of time, while also scoring 22 more tries than their Blues counterparts.
However games played at ANZ Stadium are a completely different ball game altogether. NSW have triumphed in four of the last five games played at the ground, while they also hold a 15-7 record over Queensland overall at Homebush.
Laurie Daley has recalled Mitchell Pearce for this clash where he will partner the out-of-form Hodkinson in the halves. Bulldogs pair Josh Jackson and David Klemmer have been handed their Origin debuts, replacing the suspended Greg Bird and dropped Luke Lewis.
Queensland meanwhile have made a couple of changes, with Michael Morgan coming in for the injured Daly Cherry-Evans and Josh McGuire earning his Maroons debut on the bench.
Traditionally opening Origin encounters are tight affairs, with three of the last four Game 1’s being decided by less than a converted try. Furthermore, the last time a Game 1 clash was decided by more than 10 points was way back in 2003. Expect another cracking contest first up in 2015!
