Reece Walsh lights up London to lead Kangaroos to victory
London: Reece Walsh lit up London, repaying coach Kevin Walters’ faith in a stunning Test debut that sent Australia to a 26-6 victory and a 1-0 lead in the Ashes series.
The Premiership winner scored two tries, saved two tries and brought the 60,812 fans at Wembley Stadium to their feet on several occasions with a man-of-the-match performance that justified the decision to leave incumbent Kangaroos full-back Dylan Edwards on the sideline for the opening Test of the three-match series.
Reece Walsh takes a swan dive in the first of two tries at Wembley Stadium. Credit: Getty
Walsh and Roosters backrower Angus Crichton, who scored both tries, were arguably the two best players on the field.
They were helped by a controlling performance from Isaah Yeo, who had to step up and captain the side in the absence of hooker Harry Grant, who is likely to be ruled out of the next game due to an early concussion.
The Australians travel to Liverpool for the second Test in the stands looking to win the Ashes series, the country’s 14th in a row and its first since the last series in 2003.
It was an error-filled game that Wembley Stadium has hardly ever faced, but that was to be expected from a group of players who had not played much football in their respective competitions in the last month.
Walsh was hot in his debut.Credit: Getty
Walsh started and finished the Kangaroos’ opening try of the match in the 18th minute.
The Broncos’ No.1 played a cutting pass that put Mark Nawaqanitawase into open space, the Roosters’ winger pulling the full-back to push Walsh over for the first Kangaroos try – swan dive and so on.
