THERE will be a CDRL flavour to July’s NRL clash at Barlow Park following con­firmation of a historic All Stars match as a curtain-raiser.

In a big boost for local rugby league, the Indigenous All Stars will line up against a Cairns Connection side made up of the best remaining talent in the Cairns competition.

With no under-20s or Northern Pride match to be played before the July 3 showdown between Souths and the Cowboys, the game will be a welcome addition to the footy calendar. It follows the ­ann­ouncement that the CDRL Indi­genous All Stars will face Intrust Super Cup club the Pride in a trial next month.

“It will be a big thing,” CDRL operations manager Pat Bailey said.

“The players will be itching to get out there.

“It will be great for the players and there will be a lot of people there watching.

“And Souths always has a scout there so there’s even the chance to impress them.”

There will not be any CDRL fixtures on July 3.

However, games will be played on the Friday and Saturday night.

Atherton has the bye on that weekend.

In order to be eligible for ­selection, players must fulfil their club duties, meaning some will be asked to line up twice in two days.

Pride Chief Executive Officer Rod Jensen said the twin All Stars fixtures was a just ­reward for local players.

“We have been thinking about what we do here and it is to create pathways,” Jensen said.

“We looked very quickly at the CDRL and noticed there is only one pathway.

“We thought ‘surely there is a way to reward these players not only for the Pride but for playing our game’.

“There’s no better way to do that than to play the grade higher than you.

“At ISC level we love playing an NRL side and so a CDRL side now has that chance.”

The Cairns Connection moniker is the one famously used by the region when it played the Brisbane Broncos in two friendly matches in the early 1990s.