Reece Walsh dazzled with a hat-trick of tries in Sunday’s semi-final win over Samoa, but it was his aerial trick with a flashy flip that stole the show on a wet night in Sydney.
Teammates didn’t know the flip was coming after his first try of the match, but Kangaroos coach Kevin Walters revealed afterwards that Walsh did it for some sick children who wanted him to celebrate in style.
The Australian fullback didn’t speak to reporters after the game but spent plenty of time taking photos with young kids and signing everything from footy boots to flags and jerseys in the sheds.
The flip would normally terrify coaches, especially given how slippery it was, with fears for a split second that Walsh had injured himself after he sat down in a security guard’s chair to put a boot back on.
“That’s just Reece, he always brings up something that you don’t expect,” Walters said.
“The backflip was no different, but it was pretty impressive.
“He probably didn’t need to do that, but he did it for some sick kids.
“They all hounded him to do a backflip if he scored a try so you can’t really be against that when he’s putting a smile on kids’ faces.”
Walsh was the star of the show and scored another two tries in the second half as the Kangaroos thrashed Samoa 44-12 to book a rematch with New Zealand in Sunday’s World Cup final.
It sets up a cracking encounter between the two fullbacks after Walsh and Kiwis counterpart Kalyn Ponga put on a show in the tournament opener last month.
Jack Bostock was the other hero in that game with three tries including the winner to sink New Zealand, and he had the best view on Sunday to watch Walsh’s acrobatics that would have earned a 9.4 from most judges.
“I don’t know what it is, but he’s usually doing stuff for people all the time,” the winger replied when asked about Walsh doing it for the kids.
“He cops a lot of backlash on a lot of his stuff, but he’s just a kid too having fun.
“It was pretty cool to see because I didn’t expect it. Luckily we didn’t swarm him too much or we could have stuffed it up for him.
“He’s very athletic to do that. I don’t know how I’d go doing that one.”
Originally published as Kevin Walters explains Reece Walsh try backflip as Kangaroos fullbacks sets up Ponga rematch