NRL All Stars claim victory

The NRL All Stars inflicted revenge on their Indigenous counterparts for last year’s defeat with a 28-12 victory.

The match was an exciting but bruising encounter played in front of an enthusiastic crowd at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast.

Eventual man-of-the-match winner was NRL All Stars full back Josh Dugan, who put in a marvellous performance in both defence and attack.

The NRL All Stars drew first blood when Josh Morris dived over in the corner after neat footwork by Michael Jennings, to give them a 4-0 lead.

Indigenous centre Beau Champion went close to scoring from Jonathan Thurston’s grubber but the All Stars continued to dominate.

Paul Gallen barged his way over early in the second quarter before a head clash between George Rose and Bodene Thompson had them both seeing stars.

Smith converted for a 10-0 advantage.

The NRL All Stars added to their tally when Roosters winger Sean Kenny-Dowall ran hard on to a clever Cameron Smith pass to collect his team’s third try.

Benji Marshall was on target with the conversion, before Newcastle winger Akuila Uate weaved his way over for the NRL All Stars’ fourth score.

Marshall’s second successful conversion stretched his team’s lead to 22-0 before the Indigenous team hit back with their first try.

Elusive runner Ben Barba showed why he is one of the most exciting players in the NRL by latching on to Thurston’s grubber to race over.

Thurston converted to peg the score back to 22-6 at half time.

Errors and fatigue began to creep into play before Nathan Merrit raised the Indigenous hopes by somehow grounding the ball under a wall of defenders.

Scott Prince’s successful conversion made the score 22-12, setting up a potentially thrilling last quarter.

Both teams tried hard to add to their score before Josh Dugan raced over from a neat Feliti Mateo pass with less than ten minutes remaining.

Kurt Gidley’s simple conversion rounded off the scoring at 28-12.