{"id":957632,"date":"2026-11-09T01:02:28","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T01:02:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/957632\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T01:02:28","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T01:02:28","slug":"world-cup-2026-reece-walsh-dedicates-flip-to-sick-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/957632\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup 2026: Reece Walsh dedicates flip to sick children"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reece Walsh dazzled with a hat-trick of tries in Sunday\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Teammates didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

The Australian fullback didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s chair to put a boot back on. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just Reece, he always brings up something that you don\u2019t expect,\u201d Walters said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe backflip was no different, but it was pretty impressive.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe probably didn\u2019t need to do that, but he did it for some sick kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey all hounded him to do a backflip if he scored a try so you can\u2019t really be against that when he\u2019s putting a smile on kids\u2019 faces.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s World Cup final.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s acrobatics that would have earned a 9.4 from most judges. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what it is, but he\u2019s usually doing stuff for people all the time,\u201d the winger replied when asked about Walsh doing it for the kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe cops a lot of backlash on a lot of his stuff, but he\u2019s just a kid too having fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty cool to see because I didn\u2019t expect it. Luckily we didn\u2019t swarm him too much or we could have stuffed it up for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s very athletic to do that. I don\u2019t know how I\u2019d go doing that one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as Kevin Walters explains Reece Walsh try backflip as Kangaroos fullbacks sets up Ponga rematch<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reece Walsh dazzled with a hat-trick of tries in Sunday\u2019s semi-final win over Samoa, but it was his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":957633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[524855,477461,524871,524853,524851,524866,377922,524852,524847,524860,524849,384367,380523,376730,395063,446113,377075,398466,524845,404950,398846,377480,380501,524861,64,63,86463,746,1650,54916,199641,524856,524872,111163,525,524874,524864,520491,18742,3195,477646,524863,3194,12756,524859,524854,761,762,1736,43961,158,1861,3778,46677,524868,465095,13391,135021,5993,524850,524857,85,383337,524858,8825,670,232287,436356,383476,524867,412066,524862,74713,524873,378567,380148,524848,377171,380344,524865,60939,34537,498260,524846,444862,380496,385415,494243,6618,524869,113709,524870,22333,21418,108450],"class_list":["post-957632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-s-acrobatics","tag-s-chair","tag-s-semi-final-win","tag-s-try-flip","tag-s-world-cup-final-it","tag-a-9-4","tag-a-backflip","tag-a-boot","tag-a-cracking-encounter","tag-a-dazzling-flip","tag-a-flashy-flip","tag-a-hat-trick","tag-a-kid","tag-a-lot","tag-a-rematch","tag-a-security-guard","tag-a-show","tag-a-smile","tag-a-split-second","tag-a-spot","tag-a-try","tag-a-wet-night","tag-all-the-time","tag-another-two-tries","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-backlash","tag-book","tag-coaches","tag-faces","tag-fears","tag-flags-and-jerseys","tag-flips","tag-footy-boots","tag-fun","tag-his-aerial-trick","tag-his-first-try","tag-his-stuff","tag-jack-bostock","tag-kangaroos","tag-kangaroos-coach-kevin-walters","tag-kangaroos-fullbacks","tag-kevin-walters","tag-kids","tag-last-month-jack-bostock","tag-most-judges","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-new-zealand","tag-newswire-sport","tag-nrl","tag-people","tag-photos","tag-plenty","tag-ponga-rematch","tag-reece","tag-reece-walsh","tag-reporters","tag-samoa","tag-some-sick-children","tag-some-sick-kids","tag-sports","tag-stuff","tag-style-the-australian-fullback","tag-sunday","tag-sydney","tag-teammates","tag-that-game","tag-that-one","tag-the-backflip","tag-the-best-view","tag-the-flip","tag-the-game","tag-the-kangaroos-thrashed-samoa-44-12","tag-the-kids","tag-the-match","tag-the-other-hero","tag-the-reason","tag-the-second-half","tag-the-sheds-the-flip","tag-the-show","tag-the-star","tag-the-tournament-opener","tag-the-two-fullbacks","tag-the-winger","tag-the-winner","tag-the-world-cup-final","tag-three-tries","tag-time","tag-touching-reason","tag-walsh","tag-walsh-and-kiwis-counterpart-kalyn-ponga","tag-walters","tag-world-cup","tag-young-kids"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957632","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=957632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/957633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=957632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=957632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=957632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}