The touching story behind the viral photo from yesterday's State of Origin.

Yesterday after the New South Wales Blues beat the Queensland Maroons 16-10 at the inaugural women‘s State of Origin match in North Sydney, there was a touching moment between Queensland captain Karina Brown and Blues player Vanessa Foliaki.

Just minutes after the couple of four years finished playing against each other, the pair shared perhaps the best kiss in sporting history.

♥️ always! #OurWay #Origin

A post shared by Women’s Rugby League (@wrugbyleague) on Jun 22, 2018 at 5:49am PDT

In an interview with NRL.com last week, the couple opened up about the struggles of playing against each other.

“When we first met it was okay because it was a draw that year, so there was no emotion, but then we got serious and the last three years she would block my number, that’s how serious it would get,” said Karina.

“I basically get cheated on every year,” joked Karina.

Foliaki shared that when it comes to State of Origin, she can’t think of Karina.

“Everyone that I’ve played with for NSW knows when I’m in camp, it’s just Origin – I’m not with Karina,” Foliaki said.

“Karina is messaging me, and I’m like ‘she’s a Queenslander’, and I put my phone away. She’s a Queenslander and I want to beat her,” Foliaki told NRL.com. 

While most people celebrated the beautiful image yesterday, sharing how it is a “great pic”, there was some backlash to the image on the NRL Facebook page.

What a GREAT PIC!! Love is Love…even if it is to a Queenslander!!!…????….just joking! It is an awesome picture! ❤????

— Garry Patten (@GarryPatten1) June 22, 2018

Luckily, the NRL didn’t take it for a second.

“Hey, welcome to 2018… can’t wait for you to join us!” the NRL responded to one homophobic comment on their Facebook page. 

“If we can post a photo of Cooper Cronk and his wife Tara kissing, then we can share a photo of Karina Brown and Ness Foliaki sharing a moment too,” the NRL responded to another comment. 

Whoever is running the NRL account deserves a million beers.