Māori All-Stars have taken honours in the NRL's curtain-raiser match, defeating Indigenous All Stars 16-10 at Sydney's CommBank Stadium.
After going down early to a length of the field try by the Indigenous All Stars capped off by centre Jesse Ramien, the Māori All-Stars appeared to have hit back after 16 minutes when co-captain Joseph Tapine claimed a score of his own - only to be denied in goal.
A shoulder charge on Ramien from Māori All-Stars fullback Jordan Rapana gave the Indigenous All Stars a shot at goal. Rapana was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes, as was Indigenous All Stars prop Andrew Fifita for his retaliation to the incident.
But with both sides down to 12 men, the Māori All-Stars levelled the scores through NZ Warriors utility and co-captain Kodi Nikorima, who held off the tackle of Indigenous All Stars' Tyrell Fuimaono to score under the posts.
The Māori All-Stars then took the lead before halftime, as a move out on the left edge saw winger Patrick Herbert put interchange Esarn Masters in to score in the corner.
From 6-0 down, the Māori All-Stars had rallied back to lead 10-6 at the break.
In the second half, Ramien was the second Indigenous All Stars player to be sent to the sin bin after he took out Kenny Bromwich in the middle of a Māori All-Stars attack. And with the numerical advantage, the Māori All-Stars needed no second invitation to add to their lead.
And after being denied in the first half, there was no stopping Tapine from scoring in the second. From the resulting set after Ramien's sin-binning, Tapine muscled his way over the try-line from close range, holding off three Indigenous All Stars defenders to do so.
Down by 10, the Indigenous All Stars threatened a late comeback, as Tyrell Sloan latched onto a Nicho Hynes kick to score in the corner, and bring the deficit to six points.
The Indigenous All Stars had one last chance to level scores in the 80th minute, as Brent Naden stabbed a kick through for the oncoming Josh Addo-Carr.
But Māori All-Stars centre Reimis Smith got there first and batted the ball into touch to seal his side's victory.
"Every time I call the players so they are so passionate about representing their heritage," Māori All-Stars coach David Kidwell said post-match.
"The game is icing on the cake of the culture that we do within the camp and then we get the end product with the game.
"I'm proud of both cultures. I saw Andrew Abdo [NRL CEO] at the end of the game and he promised me we would take the game back to New Zealand next year and that would be great to be able to showcase this game back home in New Zealand."
Kidwell also dedicated his side's victory to New Zealand Kiwis great Olsen Filipaina, who died on Thursday.
Māori All Stars 16 (Nikorima 24', Marsters 32', Tapine 55' tries; Herbert, Nikorima conversions.
Indigenous All-Stars 10 (Ramien 12', Sloan 66'; Trindall penalty goal)
