Kangaroos top Rugby League World Cup Pool A with 66-6 win over Cook Islands

Thanks for sticking with us this evening.

We’ll be back tomorrow for the Jillaroos’ clash with Wales from 3:40pm AEDT and running through to the blockbuster Tonga-Samoa clash in the evening as we wrap up the group stage of these tournaments.

Join us then.

A 60-point win probably isn’t the greatest learning experience for a football team, but I think we got the answers to a few questions.

1. Reece Walsh will be the fullback. The Kangaroos can carry James Tedesco as a luxury on the six-man bench in case Walsh gets hurt or is running a little cold, but Walsh was electric in attack once again tonight and can create so much out of nothing.
2. Tom Dearden is the halfback. He was superb tonight and looked like the man of the match after the first half. Even after the attack went away from him a bit, he was still able to impact with his defence. Sorry Sam, but the Cowboys skipper is going to stay in the seven.
3. The lack of back depth is scary. Every time injury-prone Tom Trbojevic looks a little proppy, a lot of hearts go into mouths because there is zero legitimate wing cover in this squad. He’s barely a winger himself.
4. Ethan Strange could have a role to play. Without Cameron Murray, the debutant came on through the middle and made a real impact. His leg speed and ball playing gave them an extra dimension. Can he co-exist in a team with four locks in it already? Perhaps not, but an excellent debut nonetheless.

Australia fullback Reece Walsh assures everyone he’s all good despite copping a few knocks and hobbling around a little bit during the game.

He’s also been named player of the match for his effort and, if he stays fit, that should keep him in the number one for the semis at least despite a lot of pressure from James Tedesco.

“It’s a bit scary. We’re in a position where we’re all contributing and trying to do what’s best for the team.

“I’m having a lot of fun at the moment.”

And he signs off with an invitation to the famous (infamous?) Mad Cow Tavern.

“See everybody at the Cow.”

The jersey swaps are on as the Kangaroos celebrate a 60-point thrashing of Cook Islands to finish the group stage undefeated and top Pool A.

Well, the performance wasn’t perfect, but the second half was certainly an improvement on the first. Crucially, the attack was humming, albeit in the face of some pretty tired defenders.

I think we answered a few questions here tonight, but Kevin Walters will certainly want to see a better outing in Sydney for the semifinal next Sunday.

A brilliant shift out to the right sends Kotoni Staggs towards a certain try, but a last-second slip cost him a try.

Reece Walsh tries a cut-out pass from dummy half that’s picked off by David Tuariki, but then he knocks it on, Walsh regathers and pops a ball over his shoulder to Harry Grant to dive in.

“That was a disgusting piece of play,” Jada Taylor says on ABC Sport.

And Ethan Strange gets the conversion to end his winning debut.

A couple of penalties in defence by Australia give Cook Islands chance after chance, but the attack is “catastrophic”, says Jada Taylor on ABC Sport.

Eventually the grubber is rolled in and Chaev Kolone goes close, but the ball just beats him to the dead-ball line.

The Kangaroos fire it out left and Reece Walsh taps it on for Kotoni Staggs to score, but it’s forward from Walsh.

And Walsh is down. Val Holmes shot up from fullback to whack his opposite number and it looks like Walsh copped a knock on his lower leg.

He’s struggling but will try to run it off. He’s usually pretty good at running through these.

It’s another gorgeous move down the left with Ethan Strange and Cameron Munster combining, with the latter sending Jacob Preston through a hole.

He offloads to Reece Walsh, who takes it up above his head and sets up Jack Bostock on the left to score.

I feel bad for Bradman Best, who’s been backing up on about every line break but is getting looked off every time.

The left-side shift sees Cameron Munster and Reece Walsh create the line break and Walsh surges through, finding Tom Trbojevic on the inside after he swept in behind the line, likely providing the space for Walsh out there on the left.

Trbojevic could have just set sail for the tryline, but instead he steps back inside as KL Iro comes across in cover, and Iro almost stops him.

Ethan Strange hits Tino Fa’asuamaleaui with a gorgeous flat pass and Big Tino puts a move on Chaev Kolone to suddenly find himself in open space. After a brief pause he makes the decision to pin his hears back and goes 40 metres to score a brilliant try.

And it’s another stellar strike from Cameron Munster.

I know I keep remarking on it, but I cannot tell you how bad he was at kicking goals the last time I saw him doing it.

It’s Halloween, so it’s the perfect time for a Munster Mash.

He sees a gap in behind the markers and shoots straight into it, fending off a retreating Makahesi Makatoa and bursting into the backfield.

He has Reece Walsh in support on the inside, but the Cook Islands’ defence is too close so Munster looks outside to Jacob Preston, who produces a diving one-handed finish that any winger would be proud of.

And Munster nails another sideline conversion for a 44-6 lead.

The bomb goes up from the Kangaroos and the chase is enthusiastic, but maybe a little too much so as they overrun it and the ball ends up finding the grass and bouncing up into the backside of Reuben Cotter, who never saw it coming.

The Kangaroos load up on the right and once again the bodies are in motion and the timing is perfect as Reece Walsh digs into the line, gets in behind the jamming defence and hits Tom Trbojevic to score out wide.

Not such a great conversion from Munster from the right wing, hooking it inside the near post.

It’s a simple left-side shift for Jack Bostock to power over, but the Cook Islands players are all pointing infield.

They want an obstruction called on Jacob Preston for running into Brad Takairangi, but the bunker confirms the try.

And Cameron Munster’s conversion from out wide is perfectly struck for a 34-6 lead.

From close to the line, Isaah Yeo barges over between Pride Petterson-Robati and Makahesi Makatoa.

Ashley Klein says it’s a try, but the bunker steps in to take it off Yeo as replays show Petterson-Robati’s effort forced the ball out at the last moment.

Just quietly, pretty poor night for Klein tonight. The bunker has stepped in to correct three or four of his calls tonight.

Tom Trbojevic tries to sweep around the back from right to leftm but Cook Islands captain Brad Takairangi sees him coming and absolutely floors him with a perfectly timed jamming tackle.

The Cook Islands left winger is having one of the worst games I’ve ever seen and it continues with another error in the play the ball.

The Cook Islands kick off and the Kangaroos come steaming back.

Hi Bill,

I don’t think it’s arrogance, I just think this Australian team isn’t anywhere near as good as teams from years past.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be too harsh on the Kangaroos’ performance considering what one of our other national teams is offering up in Cape Town.

Simon Smale and Chris De Silva are covering the dismal demise live.

It’s another pretty ordinary half of footy by Australia saved by a couple moments of brilliance.

Completing at 70 per cent is nowhere near good enough for this team and if not for a couple of poor options in attack by the opposition, this game could be a lot closer.

Cook Islands are looking good through the middle, but the lack of polish on the ends of sets is hurting them and they look pretty gassed.

In saying that, it’s October 31 in Townsville, hardly perfect rugby league weather.

Reece Walsh fumbles a bomb on the 10m line and the Cook Islands go on the attack. Reuben Rennie is unmarked out on the right but the pass is too high, allowing the Kangaroos to scramble and cover up.

And a couple of poor kicks end the half for the Cook Islands with an Australian dropout.

The Cook Islands aren’t playing as well as they were in the opening minutes, but the Kangaroos are looking similarly below their best.

In the last couple minutes, Harry Grant has thrown a shocker to Reece Walsh and Isaah Yeo mistimed a play with Lindsay Smith.

Two major mistakes by two of the senior Roos.

KL Iro brings down Kotoni Staggs and rolls him into the leg of Tom Trbojevic, who gets up hobbled and reaching for his right foot.

He doesn’t look to be moving too freely.

Cameron Munster unleashes Jacob Preston on another brilliant line break and the support runners line up on the inside.

Bradman Best tries to sneak up but Preston cuts him out and hits Reece Walsh, who shows no signs of the foot issue he had after kicking the last conversion as he races away to score.

BUT he’s not kicking the conversion from right in front. There must be something wrong with Walsh, because Munster is a famously awful goal-kicker, although he’s good enough to pot this one for a 28-6 lead.

The Kangaroos try a little short-side raid but Harry Grant’s pass to Kotoni Staggs is a long way forward.

Staggs sent Tom Trbojevic down the right wing too and it surely would’ve been another Australian try if not for the forward pass.

Harry Grant sends Jacob Preston through a hole and the Cook Islands are lucky not to lose Esan Marsters for a professional foul as he pulls Bradman Best out of a support run.

It’s no matter though as the Roos go to the right and Tom Dearden throws a majestic pass out to Kotoni Staggs to put him outside Cameron Brown to score.

Dearden is playing like a man on his home patch for sure.

It looked like Tom Trbojevic might have grimaced and propped a little on the last of those right-foot steps before the try.

The Kangaroos can’t afford to have him injured and on a personal level, hasn’t he already had his fair share of ailments?

After Val Holmes’s error, the Kangaroos have a look out on the left before going back right to Tom Trbojevic who beats a couple of defenders with a couple of right-foot steps before finding Tino Fa’asuamaleaui to crash over.

Ashley Klein says he’s held up and sends it to the bunker as no try, but the bunker corrects the record.

Harry Grant skips out of dummy half and manufactures a perfectly weighted kick that skids to a halt in the in-goal.

The Cook Islanders come out via Val Holmes, but he’s knocked it on in the Bradman Best tackle!

Australia on the attack from 10 metres out.

After Cook Islands wastes its chances, Australia has no such issues as Harry Grant skips out of dummy half to create the extra man and finds Tom Dearden, who skips out of KL Iro’s tackle to find Tom Trbojevic on the right.

Reece Walsh’s hook works for him on the conversion this time and the Kangaroos are leading 10-6 after a quarter of the game.

Timely penalties, set restarts and handling errors from Australia are giving Cook Islands chance after chance, but again Maui Winitani-Patelesio’s kick undoes all that good work, this time high and sailing too deep for an easy Bradman Best mark in the in-goal.

Brad Takairangi’s spiral bomb is a monster and looks set to wreak havoc, but Jack Bostock times his run and jump perfectly to take a spectacular grab and head upfield.

But there’s more miscommunication and another handling error from Harry Grant’s dummy half pass. So the Islanders attack from the easier side of halfway yet again.

Five-eighth Maui Winitana-Patelesio thinks he sees space in behind the defensive line as the set goes right and kicks on the second tackle, but it’s deflected and Bradman Best cleans up.

The playmaker would want that one over again.

Reece Walsh bombs the kick-off long and it sails dead on the full, so the Cook Islanders are attacking from 25 metres out after the touch-finding penalty kick.

The Kangaroos once again looking out of sorts.

The Cook Islands go close through Delahia Wigmore and then dummy half Rue Ngatikaura throws a massive dummy out to the left to split the markers before burrowing over between Pat Carrigan and Liam Martin.

Val Holmes converts from right next to the posts and Australia is trailing 6-4 after 11 minutes.

The Melbourne captain’s gamesmanship gets the better of him this time as he blatantly interferes with a kick chaser to end the Cook Islands set and puts Australia under the pump.

Liam Martin doesn’t make many errors, but he’s come up with a simple one here as he hits a short ball from Tom Dearden and seems to have poked his nose through before dropping the ball cold.

There wasn’t much contact from Maui Winitana-Patelesio but it was enough to disrupt.

If you haven’t watched the Cook Islands’ pre-game offering, it’s worth a watch.

As good as any.

After sitting out the Fiji game, fullback Reece Walsh picks up where he left off against New Zealand.

The Kangaroos go left and the defence jams up and in, but Walsh simply waits and lofts a long ball over the top to a completely unmarked Jack Bostock to score the opener.

Walsh is kicking again tonight, but hooks it across the face of goal.

Tom Dearden’s bomb gives Tom Trbojevic a clean run at the contest and Cameron Brown feels the footsteps coming, knocking on to gift the Roos early field position.

And big Davvy Moale takes the first charge into Harry Grant and Isaah Yeo, the former lucky not to concede a penalty for hanging around in the opening tackle of the game.

The anthems, the pe’e and then the game are coming up soon in Townsville.

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That Orchids-Kiwi Ferns game went the way so many of these contests have gone, with the underdogs stepping up early before the favourites run away with it in the second half.

The latest chapter in the trans-Tasman rivalry in the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup goes the way of Australia 102-14 in Wollongong.

Captain Bayley McKenna nabbed four tries and Daniel Anstey, Adam Tannock and Diab Karim all crossed for hat-tricks as the Wheelaroos scored 18 tries to the Wheel Kiwis’ three.

Liam Luff’s late score even did some damage to the infrastructure.

It was close, until it wasn’t.

Papua New Guinea’s Orchids held their gloves up in the first half but the more professional Kiwi Ferns came over the top in the end, running in eight tries to two with a dominant second-half performance.

There was a particularly touching moment on full-time, with PNG centre Relna Wuruki-Hosea in tears but being comforted by New Zealand’s Mackenzie Wiki and Leianne Tufuga.

Despite winning their past two games by a combined 104 points, England is praying for a miracle to make it through to the semifinals.

The strange tournament structure — with Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Cook Islands in Pool A, while England, Samoa and Tonga fight for two more semifinal spots in a combined Pool B and C — are relying on Tonga beating Samoa by 46 points tomorrow night to get the Poms out of the group stage.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the last time we see this tournament format.

Hi Lenora,

It will be on the main channel in most places and 7Plus.

Superstar lock Cameron Murray is a gameday scratching for Australia due to general soreness and an apparent bout of illness.

Initially named on the bench, the Aussies have dropped Sam Walker, Latrell Mitchell and Blayke Brailey out of the squad named on Tuesday.

No Mitchell on the bench is an interesting call with so few outside back options available. There are already zero full-time wingers in the squad, although Jack Bostock only made the switch to centre this year and shone for the Blues on the wing on debut.

If there’s an injury to any of the centres or wingers, Kevin Walters will have to make a call as to whether to put James Tedesco on a wing or put Ethan Strange, only called in after Mitchell Moses’s injury, in at centre.

The make-up of this squad is bizarre.

Some moron (not sure who it was) said earlier that PNG was threatening a boilover against New Zealand’s women.

That is no longer the case.

Since the Orchids led 12-8 late in the first half, the Kiwi Ferns have scored five straight tries and lead 34-12 heading into the final 12 minutes at Robina Stadium.

Fiji pushed the Kangaroos right to the end in last week’s clash at Lang Park, given some hope of an upset win at this Rugby League World Cup when the Bati took on New Zealand.

But the Fijian forwards who summarily dominated the Australian pack couldn’t match it with the loaded Kiwis engine room.

NZ winger Ronaldo Mulitalo was sent off for a high shot and Fiji halfback Brandon Wakeham followed him for a retaliatory whack to the head.

Meanwhile, the Kiwis sprinted to a 78-0 win, with Casey McLean’s four tries taking his tally for the tournament to seven, and winger Jamayne Isaako kicked 13/13 goals, taking him to 31/32 over three games and a total of 70 points.

Stacey Jones’s men must surely be favourites now.

The Papua New Guinea Orchids led New Zealand’s Kiwi Ferns 12-8 with just minutes left in the first half on the Gold Coast.

Kaiyah Atai’s 34th-minute try allowed the Ferns to go to half-time up 14-12 and Otesa Pule’s barnstorming long-range effort has kept the ball rolling in the opening moments of the second stanza.

Come on, Orchids. We need at least one upset at this tournament.

Hello and welcome to ABC Sport’s live coverage of this evening’s Rugby League World Cup action as the Kangaroos wrap up their group games against the Cook Islands.

I’m Jon Healy and I’ll take you through tonight’s action in Townsville to close out a day featuring more World Cup blowouts.