Walsh, Dearden dazzle in huge win but Walters holds on to World Cup secret
TOWNSVILLE: Reece Walsh and Tom Dearden ran amok as Australia chalked up a 66-6 win over the Cook Islands in its final pool game of the World Cup on Saturday night.
But Kangaroos coach Kevin Walters insisted in his post-match press conference that he still had not settled on his fullback and halfback for next Sunday night’s semi-final at Allianz Stadium.
Reece Walsh carving up in Townsville. NRL Imagery
Having pinched the No.1 jumper off James Tedesco for the Cook Islands clash, Walsh set up five tries and churned out 174 run metres to give himself every chance of retaining it for the first knockout game.
And Dearden, having been given the No.7 jersey at the expense of Sam Walker, tallied two try assists and 128 run metres.
For one of his try assists on his home turf, Dearden threw a 15-metre bullet to hit Kotoni Staggs on the chest after scanning the defensive line and seeing the opportunity for a marginal overlap.
Tom Trbojevic and Jack Bostock both bagged hat-tricks and their field days were helped in no small part by the brilliance of Walsh and Dearden.
Still, Walters kept his World Cup selection cards close to his chest.
“I’ll make a decision in the next couple of days,” the coach said, before remarking that Tedesco was “equally as good” against Fiji last week.
“So, we’re just fortunate with the Australian team and some of the players we have in our group.
“I keep telling everyone but you seem to think that I’m a bullshitter, that I’m lying to you. But I haven’t made any decisions around who’s playing where.
“Selections are tough, but it’s a good position to be in as a coach and to be part of this group as well.
“... I’ll sit down with our leaders and the like and we’ll come up with a team for this week.”
In spite of the destruction he inflicted on the Cook Islands at Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Walsh spent much of the night hobbling around and he had a bag of ice wrapped around his left ankle post-game.
He copped a bang to the same ankle that required surgery mid-season.
However, both Walters and Walsh brushed off any talk of an injury scare.
While it remains to be seen if Walters will stick with Walsh and Dearden as his No.1 and No.7, the Broncos phenom said he felt he and the other playmakers gelled increasingly better as the night wore on.
Jack Bostock scored a hat-trick on Saturday night, as did Tom Trbojevic. Getty Images
“I feel early we were probably a little bit clunky, but I felt as the game went on we sort of found our rhythm,” Walsh said.
“I felt that Tommy and ‘Mun’ (Munster) really took control, Harry (Grant) guided the forwards around, and the big boys in the middle really tried to take a step forward.
“We’ve got so much strike in this team ... If we just keep knuckling down and working hard, we can set ourselves up for a really good crack at it.”
Bostock crossed for Australia only two minutes into the game, and although the Cook Islands briefly enjoyed some time in the lead after hooker Rua Ngatikaura burrowed over from dummy-half, the Kangaroos proceeded to pile on 11 unanswered tries.
There came a point in the second half where the possibility of Australia clocking up a bigger total in the rugby league than in the cricket was very much on, so wretchedly bad did the final day of the Cape Town decider go for Pat Cummins’ team.
Kangaroos back-rower Cameron Murray was ruled out on match morning and replaced on the Australian bench by South Sydney teammate David Fifita, but Walters said the Kangaroos workhorse was simply given a rest because of soreness.
