Exiles rule in England

The southern hemisphere came out on top in the inaugural rugby league International Origin Match. A try in the dying minutes gave the Exiles a famous victory over hosts, England.

It has long been asked in pubs across Australia, “if you pulled together a team of ex-NRL players from the English Super League how would they fare?” On Friday night that question was answered in spectacular fashion in the inaugural International Origin Match. The Exiles, composed of southern hemisphere Super League players, snatched a 16-12 victory from an impressive England side at Headingley Carnegie Stadium in Leeds.

The opening exchanges of the match saw heavy contact from both sides, setting the stage for a bruising encounter. It took until the eighth minute for the Exiles to open the scoring with Exiles halfback Thomas Leuluai stepping the defense and putting Willie Manu over for a try. Pat Richards converted to give the Exiles a 6-0 lead.

England responded with a try to halfback Richard Myler off the back of an inspirational mid-field charge by Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs-bound England prop James Graham. Kevin Sinfield’s conversion saw the game locked up.

The final try in the first half came from a Brett Hodgson bomb which saw winger Francis Meli muscle over five metres in from touch. Pat Richards missed the conversion and was also denied a try by video referee Ben Thaler, to see the half-time score at 10-6.

The second half opened with thirty minutes of what Exiles Captain Danny Buderus termed “a defensive slog-match”. With the Exiles attacking the England line, interchange player Joel Tomkins intercepted a Buderus cut-out pass to score a length-of-the-field try in only his third game for his country. Kevin Sinfield added the two to give England the lead for the first time in the match.

When questioned about the source of the passion shown by the Exiles, winger Pat Richards summed it up as “each of the boys playing for the people back home”, a sentiment echoed by teammates Brett Hodgson and Mark O’Meley.

Both Exiles coach Brian McClennan and England head coach Steve McNamara praised both sides for the quality and intensity of the game.

Both men also highlighted concerns about the impact on players expected to “back up” for club matches, echoing an issue currently being debated by the NRL. On the scheduling of this inaugural International Origin match, NSW’s most-capped hooker and Exiles captain Danny Buderus, while recognising his own need to recover for his Leeds Rhinos match against Hull KR on Sunday, summed it up.

“When I played for NSW, you weren’t an Origin player until you played for your club a couple of days later”.