http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21783290-5001023,00.html
SOUTH Sydney junior Eddie Paea shrugged off a knockout blow to draw first blood for NSW on State of Origin night at Suncorp Stadium.
Halfback Paea broke a 10-all stalemate with a solo darting try that gave the young Blues a gritty 14-10 Under 19 interstate victory over Queensland tonight.
The playmaker had to rise off the canvas to play the entire second half of the Origin curtain-raiser after being dazed by a stray elbow in attempting to tackle Maroons lock Josh McGuire.
His game-breaking try 15 minutes from full-time still left the visitors with some tense moments as the Queenslanders attacked desperately but were withheld by stout defence.
The match was played on a knife-edge with less than six points between the evenly-matched sides throughout.
While Paea and Parramatta prop Tim Mannah stood out for the Blues,
the star of the show was Queensland centre and Northern Territory-product Will Chambers.
Chambers, the son of a Gove mining supervisor who idolises Blues winger Matt King, scored both of the Maroons tries with brilliant evasive skills and pace.
The 18-year-old scored a try in his NRL debut for Melbourne against the Roosters on the weekend and showed why the Storm's recruitment team is considered the best in the business.
It took NSW six minutes to put their stamp on the match when Penrith prop Tim Grant barged over under the posts after gaining good field position from a chargedown.
But the young Maroons levelled the scores from the next set of six with Chambers latching on to a second-man play and burning his rival centre to score untouched.
The scores remained 6-all for the rest of the half as NSW bravely defended their line with Queensland enjoying the lion's share of possession.
Canberra winger Michael Brophy regained the lead for NSW straight after the break by scoring in the left corner from a perfect cut-out pass by dummy-half Masada Iosefa before Chambers quickly hit back in a carbon copy of the first half.
Queensland's second-string U19s tasted success in the first curtain-raiser, overcoming Papua New Guinea U19s 36-12 after scores were deadlocked 12-all at half-time.
NSW U19s 14 (T Grant, M Brophy, E Paea tries; E Paea goal) bt Queensland U19s 10 (W Chambers 2 tries; E Sandow goal).
