Maroons shift up to make it eight straight in State of Origin

QUEENSLAND'S dominance of State of Origin is entering the rare realm of sporting records that may never be broken.

LIKE Bradman's batting average and Black Caviar's 25-race winning streak, Queensland's dominance of State of Origin is entering the rare realm of sporting records that may never be broken.

In Sydney last night the Maroons won their eighth consecutive series, overcoming an error-prone NSW - and an astonishing last-minute field invasion from a rotund male streaker - to win the match 12-10 and the series 2-1, much to the delight of the few thousand Queenslanders in the 83,813-strong crowd. The northerners have not lost an interstate series since 2005, and it may be sometime before they fail again, as the core of their extraordinary team - Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk, Greg Inglis, Cameron Smith, Billy Slater - are still very much at the top of their game.

Indeed, most of Queensland's 17-man squad haven't played in a losing Origin series; conversely, Anthony Watmough and Luke Lewis were the only current members of the NSW team who were there to taste their state's most recent success, in 2005.

In what was a fairly scrappy match, NSW was left to rue the squandering of several scoring opportunities, particularly in the first half.

With Queensland leading 8-4 at halftime - despite the Blues having more possession and a 6-2 penalty count in their favour in the opening 40 minutes - the game was in the balance.

The Maroons looked to have sealed the win in the 61st minute, when centre Justin Hodges scored a try and Thurston converted to make it 12-4.

But a solo try to NSW bench player Trent Merrin hauled the Blues back into the contest, and it was 12-10 to Queensland with 10 minutes to play.

With two minutes left to play, and with Queensland on the attack just metres out from the NSW line, the game descended into farce when a male streaker ran more than 60m and right into the middle of play.

The Maroons appeared to have crossed for the match-winning try but the video referee ruled that the rogue nudist had interfered with NSW defenders and ordered a scrum feed to Queensland.

Despite the interruption which brought back memories of the so-called serial pest Peter Hore's interference in a 1997 World Cup qualifier in Melbourne and a subsequent Melbourne Cup - and a late attacking move from NSW skipper Robbie Farah, Queensland held on to win 12-10. At the full-time siren, the NSW players fell to their knees as one, while the Maroons launched into wild celebrations.

Queensland coach Mal Meninga was overjoyed at the end of the match, celebrating with his charges on the field. And Laurie Daley, in his first year as NSW coach, was left to ponder whether eight is enough.