NRL All Stars match live blog: Indigenous All Stars vs Maori All Stars

The Indigenous All Stars have downed the Maori 34-14 with some sparkling attacking footy on show at AAMI Park. 

The pre-match challenges were spine tingling. Photo by Mike Owen/Getty Images.

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THERE could only be one winner.

It is a shame, really, given the spectacle put on last night by the Indigenous All Stars and New Zealand Maori at AAMI Park.

The NRL opened its 2019 account with a brilliant display of rugby league in Melbourne, which featured hard hits, big runs and an avalanche of tries.

The Indigenous team prevailed, 34-14, scoring seven tries at regular intervals.

Melbourne Storm winger Josh Addo-Carr scored a double, while Sydney Roosters premiership star Blake Ferguson covered a game-high 186 metres.

The Maori drew first blood and threatened early before the Indigenous team powered away late.

Jahrome Hughes kept the Maori within striking distance with a length-of-the-field try-saving tackle on Ferguson just before the final break.

But it would be short-lived for the Maori, who leaked another two tries in the last quarter.

The pre-match challenges were spine tingling. Photo by Mike Owen/Getty Images.

FLASHY FOXX

JOSH Addo-Carr has done a brilliant job scoring tries and collecting jerseys the past two years but the 2019 edition could be the best one yet for the NRL's fastest man.

The Melbourne Storm sensation, who already owns a premiership medallion, top try-scorer award, and New South Wales State of Origin jersey, opened the Indigenous All Stars' account with two tries in three minutes to further enhance his chances of earning a call-up to the Kangaroos.

In even better news for the Storm, Addo-Carr looks to have returned bigger, stronger and quite possibly faster.

He clocked 94 metres, including five tackle busts and two line-breaks. 

There was some scorching football played. AAP Image/Daniel Pockett.

FIERY FIFITA

IF anyone was going to get into a blue it was always going to be Andrew Fifita.

The Cronulla prop, susceptible to brain snaps, quite often in or against Melbourne, did it again early in the second half when tackled to the ground.

Instead of taking his medicine, Fifita opted to kick out with his boot, which struck Maori hooker Brandon Smith in the neck.  

Tensions flared following the unruly action, which drew a penalty, with Smith’s Melbourne Storm teammate Jesse Bromwich, Fifita’s direct opponent, flying the flag for the young Maori star.

The Maori side looked a little underdone. AAP Image/Daniel Pockett.

BROM-ANZA

INJURY cruelled Melbourne Storm prop Jesse Bromwich last season but the proud Maori and New Zealand international cut an imposing figure.

Bromwich led the Maori pack with purpose, doing a power of work through the middle under immense pressure from the blistering Indigenous All Stars.

The 29 year-old, newly-minted Storm vice-captain, sounded an ominous warning for NRL rivals, registering 131 metres from 14 carries.

CULTURE CLASH A WINNER

The NRL is often maligned - and rightly so - for the actions of a small percentage of its players, but if there is one thing the code does better than any other in this country it is representative football.

You know why? It means something.

AFL movers and shakers spend thousands on junkets to the Super Bowl in the name of research and development, relationships and networking, wonder if any took the time to wander into AAMI Park to watch the Indigenous All Stars face-off against the Maori?

There was nothing confected about, no super tries, no unnecessary sponsorship activations, and no modified rules, the football, itself, was enough.

And, to top it off, a bumper crowd of 18,802 turned up, including strong and vocal indigenous contingents from Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island nations.

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Originally published as NRL All Stars match live blog: Indigenous All Stars vs Maori All Stars

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