Walsh Shines as Dominant Australia Defeat The Hosts Away in First Ashes Match
The home side's offensive weaknesses were exposed and punished by a clinical Australia as the visitors swept to a worryingly straightforward win in the opening Test of the rugby league Ashes series.
The England coach's side had talked at length about their drive going into the first Ashes for 22 years, and they were definitely full of effort at Wembley. Yet, in the key instances, it was the world champions who displayed more composure in front of a historic crowd for an series match in the United Kingdom of over sixty thousand spectators.
Brilliant Display from Walsh
Guided by an outstanding display in attack and defence from club star Reece Walsh, Australia were deserving and convincing victors in the opening Test of the three-game contest, meaning England must triumph at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium next Saturday to keep alive their aspirations of a first Ashes win since 1970.
England will have to be much better with the possession if they are to accomplish that goal. On multiple occasions in the opening period, the hosts found themselves in advantageous situations but they were failed to score for any points. That was in no small part thanks to Reece Walsh, who pulled off two superb interceptions.
Key Moments of the Match
The first occurred as Farnworth seemed destined to put Dom Young in for what would have been the opening try, then Walsh stopped Mikey Lewis as the break neared. By then, the Kangaroos had taken the lead as Reece Walsh himself finished a wonderful play.
Cleary added the extras before adding a two-pointer on the stroke of the interval to establish a two-score lead. It was a pivotal moment, as was the try for Angus Crichton shortly after the restart which made it 14-0 in favour of the visitors. England now had to score three times and that seemed to halt their momentum.
Should there have been uncertainty about the victors, they were firmly put to bed with 15 minutes to go. Cameron Munster’s half-break was backed up by Angus Crichton, who pushed past Jack Welsby for the Kangaroos' third score.
That made it twenty to zero and there was further humiliation in the final minutes as Walsh completed another scintillating attack, exploiting a weary and visibly shot English defense for his second.
Match Result and Outlook
By then, local supporters had begun to filter out and many missed Clark's late try, which at least prevented the home side being held to nil. Nonetheless, there are many issues for the coach to answer going into what is now a do-or-die Test next weekend.
- Home Side: Full team lineup.
- Substitutes: Bench players.
- Tries: Clark.
- Goal: Mikey Lewis.
- Visitors: Starting lineup.
- Interchange: Dearden, Collins, Cotter, Koloamatangi.
- Scores: Walsh 2, Crichton 2.
- Kicks: Nathan Cleary (five).
