Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nWalsh is looking unstoppable at the moment after finishing the 2025 NRL season with a man-of-the-match Grand Final performance. <\/p>\n
He lived up to his star billing as he helped guide Australia to a dominant 26-6 victory at Wembley. <\/p>\n
The 23-year-old fullback produced two try-saving interceptions in a display that showcased both his attacking prowess and his defensive nous.<\/p>\n
Angus Crichton scored two second-half tries. Nathan Cleary hit all four conversions and a penalty. The hosts scored a late converted try in front of a 60,812-strong crowd \u2014 a record for an Ashes match in Britain.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty surreal for myself being at Wembley, being among world-class players. We definitely got the support from everyone who\u2019s here to support us,\u201d Walsh told the BBC.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m probably happier with the two tries I stopped (than the two I scored). I think that goes a long way to getting the result tonight. They got that late try there that we\u2019re pretty disappointed with.\u201d <\/p>\n
England coach Shaun Wane said the best team had won.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey made how many line breaks and scored. We made line breaks and didn\u2019t score,\u201d Wane said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t clinical enough, but the positive thing is we can correct that. We can be miles better than that and that\u2019s what we aim to do.\u201d <\/p>\n
England started brightly. Herbie Farnworth \u2014 one of five NRL regulars in the English team \u2014 and Dom Young causing problems down the right.<\/p>\n
Australia, who have notched up a record 13 consecutive Ashes series between 1973 and the most recent in 2003, suffered an early blow when captain Isaah Yeo was forced off for a head injury assessment after a collision with Young in the 14th minute.<\/p>\n
In the first Ashes Series in 22 years, Walsh drew first blood, crossing for the opening try after England halfback Mikey Lewis was caught out defensively.<\/p>\n
Cleary kicked the conversion to hand Australia a welcome lead as Yeo failed his concussion assessment. He will also miss next week\u2019s second Test in Everton\u2019s new Hill-Dickinson Stadium.<\/p>\n
England, seeking a first Test victory over Australia by a British side since 2006, responded through skipper George Williams.<\/p>\n
The playmaker took the game to the Kangaroos, first running on a fifth tackle and then sending in a probing grubber but the covering Cleary tapped the ball over the line.<\/p>\n
Australia were denied a second Crichton try when the referee ruled that Young had been taken out by Josh Addo-Carr going for a Cameron Munster bomb.<\/p>\n
Jez Litten tackled the omnipresent Walsh without the ball and Cleary kicked the penalty to leave the world champions 8-0 up at the break.<\/p>\n
The second-half had barely started before Walsh escaped from Lewis\u2019 attempted tackle to scurry past a clutch of England players 60 metres upfield, Farnworth just managing to tap tackle Addo-Carr and stop the attack.<\/p>\n
Australia scored their second try minutes later, Crichton stepping inside Alex Walmsley and driving over fullback Jack Welsby to the line. Cleary kicked the conversion to leave England facing a truly uphill battle at 14-0.<\/p>\n
It was not only Walsh impressing on his Australian debut.<\/p>\n
Centre Gehamat Shibasaki came up with a vital tackle on Young to force a knock on.<\/p>\n
Cross-code winger Mark Nawaqanitawase, who played for the Wallabies at the 2023 Rugby Union World Cup, showed off his aerial technique with aplomb and was a danger with ball in hand.<\/p>\n
Australia turned the screw with 15 minutes to play, the influential Munster dummying wide before finding Crichton on the inside, the loose forward going over for his second.<\/p>\n
Walsh skipped over for his own second \u2014 and Australia\u2019s fourth \u2014 after interlinking passes with Shibasaki in a slick attacking set. Cleary converted both.<\/p>\n
Jake Wardle managed to bring down Nawaqanitawase in a try-saving tackle before Daryl Clark barged over for a late England consolation try converted by Lewis<\/p>\n
\u2014 with AFP<\/p>\n
Originally published as Reece Walsh celebrates without shorts after Kangaroos freak show<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reece Walsh put on a show on and off the field on Sunday morning as the Kangaroos put…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-240537","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}