Indigenous All Stars thump World All Stars 34-8 in Newcastle

CALLS are growing that the time has come to find a way to incorporate the Indigenous All Stars more and more into the season’s rugby league calendar.

THE night started with a stirring war dance. Then came the magic sure.

And by full-time calls were growing that the time has come to find a way to incorporate this Indigenous team more and more into the season’s rugby league calendar.

On a stinking hot night in Newcastle the NRL season kicked off in style, with a crowd of 20,241 turning up to see a wonderful game that ended in a 34-8 victory to the Indigenous team.

While the All Stars game won’t be played next year it will be back in 2019.

By then it just might be the right time to further develop this team on the world stage.

In Channel Nine commentary Phil Gould backed up Johnathan Thurston’s call earlier this week to make something happen.

The Penrith boss even suggested they could even compete on the game’s biggest international stage, the World Cup.

Could that ever happen?

Just watching them in the first full hitout of the season, you wouldn’t argue against them.

Thurston was brilliant. Greg Inglis enormous. Andrew Fifita. Wade Graham. Bevan French. Tyrone Peachey ... you could rattle them all off.

And don’t forget young Ash Taylor.

Playing alongside Thurston, the talented 21-year-old starred alongside the game’s biggest names.

Jack Bird dives over to score the first try for the Indigenous All Stars.

The match was played in tremendous spirit.

It started with the opening war dance that culminated with a pre-match embrace between the two teams.

The temperature in Newcastle was 32 degrees at kick-off and the heat didn’t let up.

But it sure didn’t slow down the Indigenous side.

Hammering the World team’s left edge early, they raced in three unanswered tries to lead 16-0 after 20 minutes.

Joel Thompson created the opening try for Jack Bird after just four minutes after the Dragons backrower brushed past Moses Mbye on a 50-metre charge.

The Indigenous All Stars celebrate Ashley Taylor’s try.

Within two minutes they were over again when Jack Wighton delivered the final pass as Blake Ferguson touched down.

Thurston and Taylor combined brilliantly for the young Gold Coast halfback to bag his first try in an Indigenous jumper.

Thurston reacted like an eagle to a dropped ball before it went back and forth between the two like it was a game of basketball.

To their credit the World team picked up their act in the second quarter. They dominated possession and field position and although the Indigenous team denied them on several occasions eventually the defensive workload took its toll.

The World team finally got on the board in the 35th minute thanks to a line-ball call that went against the Indigenous team.

Replays suggested David Mead touched down short of the line but the bunker determined it couldn’t find sufficient evidence to overturn the on-field “try” decision.

Dane Gagai on the charge for the Indigenous All Stars.

Just before half-time they were over again after Jarrod Croker showed his class when he created an opening for Nene MacDonald.

But after pulling themselves back into the game at 16-8, the freakish skills of Bevan French ignited another Indigenous raid.

French’s banana kick bounced perfectly for Thurston, before the Cowboys champion produced his own pinpoint kick to send Gagai over.

Throw in a trademark Inglis fly-swatting charge and it was a night to remember.

The only lowlight was a knee injury suffered by Croker.

While the Canberra captain will have to have scans on Saturday, the early hopes were that it was a medial ligament injury, and not ACL.

That is about the best news you can get when it comes to knee injuries.

Originally published as Indigenous All Stars thump World All Stars 34-8 in Newcastle