Game One Game I at the
Sydney Football Stadium was a typical Origin arm-wrestle and resulted in the lowest score in the series' 10-year history to that point. Queensland's
Wally Lewis withdrew pre-match due to a hamstring tear (only the 2nd Origin match he had missed in the series' history), Maroon's hero
Gene Miles had retired and
Tony Currie,
Michael Hancock and
Kerrod Walters were all out with injuries. New South Wales' captain
Benny Elias played what was regarded as his finest representative performance with a copybook dummy-half display. Blues' centre
Mark "Sparkles" McGaw scored the only try of the match. He outplayed his opposite, the
Mal Meninga and pulled off a covering tackle on winger
Alan McIndoe that was so comprehensive that both McIndoe's boots came flying from his feet. The win was the Blues' first since the post-series exhibition match in 1987.
Game Two }} The public relations exercise to showcase the game in Melbourne proved a success with a sell-out crowd of 25,800 cramming into
Olympic Park. The game was highlighted by NSW halfback
Ricky Stuart racing 70 metres to score, easily outpacing Qld winger
Les Kiss who made no ground on the former
Wallaby. Queensland halfback
Allan Langer's stealing of the ball from Blues replacement prop
Glenn Lazarus helped spell the end of three years of Queensland State of Origin dominance which had included two consecutive series clean sweeps from 1988. Langer's steal was a defining moment giving
Rod Wishart the chance to put the Blues ahead 8-6. Shortly afterwards
Brad Mackay swooped on an intercept and streaked away for the try that put the game out of reach for the Maroons.
Game Three In Game III the Blues led 10-4 after just 24 minutes and looked set for a series whitewash. Then the Maroons clawed back to 10-all early in the second half with their Origin "King"
Wally Lewis landing a wide conversion after
Gary Belcher had taken the earlier kicks.
Western Suburbs Magpies' forward
Steve Jackson who the year before had scored a
Grand Final try to give his club the
Canberra Raiders the premiership, scored an almost identical try to give Queensland the game and a face-saving sole victory in the series. ==Teams==