In addition to Matt Ballin, who was included as Queensland's hooker due to Cameron Smith's failure to recover from an elbow injury suffered in the 2010 ANZAC Test,[4] Dave Taylor and Cooper Cronk were selected to make their debuts for the Maroons.

In the fifteenth minute their halfback Johnathan Thurston took on the New South Wales defensive line before throwing a one-handed pass over the top of the defence to Darius Boyd to score untouched out on the wing.

The score remained level until the twenty-eighth minute when the Blues were awarded a dubious penalty for a Maroons offside infringement and Lyon kicked it successfully, giving his side an 8–6 lead.

[10] Queensland scored first in the second half when, attacking close to the Blues' line, prop David Shillington was able to stand in a tackle and offload to Maroons captain Darren Lockyer, who raced through to get a try.

In the sixty-first minute after being tackled on the halfway line, the Maroons worked the ball out to Boyd's wing, where he raced down the sideline before throwing it back in to Greg Inglis to score out wide.

In the sixty-seventh minute as New South Wales fullback Kurt Gidley was returning a kick to the ten-metre mark, Thurston, who led the Maroons' chasers, took the ball from his arms one-on-one and gave it to Sam Thaiday, who scored by the posts.

The Blues scored next when deep inside Queensland's territory they worked the ball out to the right wing where Jamal Idris, making his Origin debut, forced his way over the line.

In the final minute New South Wales got a further consolation try when Gidley chipped the ball ahead and Slater couldn't secure it, giving Ben Creagh the opportunity to dive on it over the line.

The Blues camp was disrupted by Indigenous centre Timana Tahu walking out of the team after racist comments from assistant coach and former teammate Andrew Johns directed at Queensland Aboriginal player Greg Inglis.

[24] David Shillington was chosen to be starting prop for Queensland as Petero Civoniceva was ruled out after suffering from a fractured hand in Game I,[25] freeing his place on the interchange bench for Ben Hannant to make his return to Origin.

Monaghan was called in five days into team preparation to replace right wing Timana Tahu, who extraordinarily quit the squad after taking offence to racial comments made by Blues' assistant coach and former teammate Andrew Johns.

About four minutes later the Maroons were attacking close to the Blues' line and crossed again when their captain Darren Lockyer put his fullback Billy Slater through a hole in the defence twelve metres out.

Next came a bit of individual brilliance from Johnathan Thurston when he received the ball on the fifth tackle just inside his own half and chip-kicked it over the head of a defender, running through to regather it after a failed attempt to do so by Kurt Gidley.

[45] This try saved the Blues from what would have been their biggest loss in the history of State of Origin,[46] but the kick from Michael Ennis was successful, so the score was 34–6 and remained at that when the full-time siren sounded.

[51] New South Wales mistakes (including a dropped ball on their second hit-up, a failed attempt to find touch after a penalty and a mid-air tackle on Billy Slater marking a kick) meant they had almost no possession in the opposition half for the first quarter of the match.

[52] The weight of possession in attacking field position afforded Queensland the first try, which came in the twentieth minute as they worked the ball out to the left wing from close range for Darius Boyd to dive over.

[57] New South Wales got the first points of the second half while raiding the Maroons' line and keeping the ball alive with Kurt Gidley crashing through Queensland's scrambling goal-line defence.

[59] The pressure remained on the Maroons as the New South Welshmen continued their attack and in the sixty-ninth minute Blues dummy half Michael Ennis, two metres from the Queensland uprights, put a deft grubber kick through the defence and Greg Bird raced through to dive on it.

[61] The Queenslanders decided to attack New South Wales' line and before the third tackle of the set Slater had scored after running onto Darren Lockyer's inside pass eight metres out.

[63] As the Blues tried to work the ball out of their own half Queensland winger Israel Folau intercepted a pass, giving his team possession again in good field position.

[66] So the Maroons had achieved their first State of Origin series whitewash since 1995, winning the match 23-18[67] and providing the perfect birthday present for Mal Meninga, who turned 50 the following day.

Following the game the man-of-the-match award and Wally Lewis Medal for player of the series, were both given to Billy Slater[68] before the State of Origin Shield was presented to skipper Darren Lockyer.