The Deadly Cup celebrated Indigenous culture with an action packed day of rugby league

THE Territory All Stars claimed the inaugural Deadly Cup, with wins over their Indigenous and Pacific rivals to cap off a day celebrating Indigenous culture.

Territory All Star Tyrone Jennings charging forward in the representative fixture against Indigenous All Stars. Picture Glenn Campbell

THE Territory All Stars claimed the inaugural Deadly Cup winning two big games over their Indigenous and Pacific rivals to cap off a day celebrating Indigenous culture.

The Indigenous, Territory and Pacific All Stars sides each faced off against one another in 30-minute halves.

The Indigenous side full of talent from the Brothers’ premiership-winning side looked energised from the start, full of pride to be playing in the representative fixture with Jonas Niki and Isaac Sedan-Kurnoth running hard.

But the Territory All Stars – full of Litchfield veterans – were first to score in the opening senior men’s fixture with Clint Chettle shrugging off a tackle to cross the line.

MORE NT SPORT NEWS

The inaugural Deadly Cup will see the Territory’s league stars compete in celebration of Indigenous culture

Darwin Dragons survive the heat to beat University Pirates

NTFL’s best interstate players of 2020: Imports midfield

And just when it looked like the Indigenous side would break through they knocked on, allowing the Territory outfit to hustle down the field giving Matt Goodfellow a score, resulting in an 8-0 Territory win.

After a passionate haka from the Pacific All Stars it was their turn to take on the Indigenous squad, who came out firing with a massive run from Nick Yarran paying off with a David Jacobson try on the opposite wing.

The Pacific side was quick to respond, applying the pressure to see Suiliasi Tavodi over with another soon after for Chuck Norris.

But a quick set of passing around a Pacific wall of defence saw Aidan Singleton score in the corner to level the scoring.

Pacific was quick to respond through Joel Turaga, while another try on the buzzer from Singleton again tied up the scores, but a missed kicked gave Pacific the win 16-14.

The Territory All Stars were quick to state their case to the Deadly Cup in the final game of the gala day, with big Adam Hall charging over the line to score the opener.

But it was a massive defensive effort forcing a turnover on their own line and a try to Matt Goodson saw the Territory side secure their second win and the Deadly Cup.

A late try from Cooper Segeyaro put Pacific on the board.

Territory captain Luke Mahood was happy to get back on the field in the celebration of culture.

“It was a tough couple of games with the speed and intensity over both games but it was great for us to be back out on the field,” he said.

“We’ve looked after ourselves in the past few weeks with our fitness slipping a bit but the speed and skills were still there.

“We kept our intensity and worked hard with everyone who was out there putting there all in no matter who they were playing for.

“It was a great event to get around the guys at Deadly Enterprises and the Indigenous culture with the opening ceremony being something different.”

Meanwhile, the Indigenous All Stars enjoyed the spoils in the senior women’s game, winning 26-0 over their Territory All Stars opponents.

OFFER EXTENDED: Amazing NT News subscription offer: Read everything for $1

Bianca Stokes set the scene charging toward the line for the opening score and it was all the Indigenous side from there, with Sistaz full back Tishara Cahill-Davern scoring two tries within five minutes.