Vince Rugari
at Skilled Park
The NRL All Stars have claimed the Arthur Beetson Trophy with an action-packed 36-28 win over the Indigenous All Stars at Skilled Park on Saturday night.
All the emotion of the spectacle may have been in the opposite corner, but the NRL side did enough to take a 2-1 lead over the Indigenous team in the third edition of rugby league's pre-season spectacular.
The All Stars overcame a sluggish start and ran in six tries to five to secure victory, though the result of the match perhaps took a back seat to sentimentality.
Both sides paid tribute to the late great Arthur Beetson in the best way possible - with 80 minutes of fast, furious attacking football in front of 26,039 fans at Robina.
The Indigenous side, playing for their people and their culture, were always going to come out breathing fire.
But they were helped on their way to their two first-quarter tries by the NRL All Stars, who made a number of errors inside their own 20-metre area in the opening stages.
Five minutes in and they caved under intense pressure from the Indigenous side, with Broncos star Jharal Yow Yeh capping off a beautiful flowing move by touching down in the right-hand corner.
Their second try came with just a few minutes left in the term, when man of the match Nathan Merritt, pounced on a loose ball after the All Stars fumbled a Chris Sandow grubber.
Johnathan Thurston converted both to give the Indigenous All Stars a 12-0 lead, but their opponents chipped away at that with an early try in the second quarter.
The new 'six to go' rule played into their hands, with referees awarding brand new sets instead of whistling for a penalty after every ruck infringement.
They took advantage of the Indigenous side's ill-discipline at the play-the-ball and turned it into territory, as Frank Pritchard cannon-balled over the line after a pass from dummy-half Nathan Fien five minutes in.
Both sides turned up the attack in the latter stages of the quarter by using their 'powerplay', with differing results.
First, sensing an opportunity to take control of the match after Pritchard's try, the NRL All Stars chose for Sam Thiaday and Cory Paterson to leave the field.
But despite playing with just 11 men, the Indigenous side scored through Matt Bowen, who showed incredible power to latch onto a chip kick from Thurston and burst through to the in-goal area in a flash.
Once Thiaday and Paterson returned, the Indigenous coach Laurie Daley called his powerplay, forcing two NRL All Stars off - but again, the side who were meant to be disadvantaged ended up over the line.
Luke Lewis showed great skill to beat two defenders and touch down with five minutes to go in the half, putting the NRL All Stars within striking distance.
But Merritt bagged his double on the stroke of half-time after a pass from Greg Bird, giving the Indigenous side a 10-point margin at the main change.
That deficit was eroded early in the third quarter and almost out of nowhere Luke Bailey made an angled run towards the Indigenous defence and ended up breaking through for an unexpected try, converted by Benji Marshall.
All Stars coach Wayne Bennett called for his second powerplay halfway through the term, but this time it worked perfectly, handing them the lead for the first time.
After taking a