Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\nWhile Reece Walsh shone in the Kangaroos\u2019 opening win over New Zealand, Tedesco seized his opportunity against Fiji, delivering a dominant display at both ends of the field and setting up a contest between two in-form fullbacks for one spot.<\/p>\n
Finishing with 146 running metres, five tackle busts, three line-break assists and four try assists, he was virtually unstoppable as the 2026 Clive Churchill Medallist delivered when it mattered the most.<\/p>\n
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Speaking after the match, Walters praised Tedesco and highlighted the veteran\u2019s impact in both attack and defence.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe (stood up) and that\u2019s what you expect from this guy,\u201d the Kangaroos coach said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been doing it for a long time, and he was one of the differences out there for Australia. <\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly, his work in attack was very good. In defence, he was very good. He\u2019s a world-class player. That\u2019s why he\u2019s been the player he is for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jillaroos put England to the sword | 02:05<\/p>\n
Asked about who will be Australia\u2019s fullback heading into next week\u2019s clash against the Cook Islands and the remainder of the tournament, Walters remained tight-lipped.<\/p>\n
However, the Kangaroos coach insisted it was a \u201cgreat situation\u201d to have both Tedesco and Walsh competing for one spot after their respective standout performances.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t call it a headache because it\u2019s a great situation to be in,\u201d Walters said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have two of the best fullbacks in the game available for us, they just keep producing so we\u2019ll have a chat and have some decisions made for next week. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust very grateful we have both these guys in our squad because I thought Reece was one of our best players in game one and James was tonight one of our best players as well. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good position to be in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samoa & England win in style | 01:51<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Tedesco may have made Kevin Walters\u2019 biggest selection call of the World Cup even harder, strengthening his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":940534,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-940533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940533","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=940533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/940534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=940533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=940533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=940533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}