Underwhelming Kangaroos win Ashes 3-0, but is it enough to earn Walters an extension?

An underwhelming Kangaroos overcame England to win the third Test 30-8 and claim the Ashes series 3-0, albeit without getting close to playing their best football throughout the campaign.

The Kangaroos did enough to overcome an equally disappointing English side to retain the Ashes series at Headingley Stadium on Saturday night, but raised question marks over the direction of the team heading into next year’s World Cup.

Kangaroos coach Kevin Walters was given a three-game contract and will meet with NRL powerbrokers when he returns to Australia to find out whether he’s done enough to earn the right to lead the side at next year’s World Cup on home soil.

“Sure, there’s a few things that could have gone better, but we wanted to win the series and to go 3-0 I thought was a really good achievement,” Walters said. “Hopefully, this is enough to get my extension.”

Australia’s defence could not be questioned, conceding just two tries in 240 minutes of football across three games in London, Liverpool and Leeds.

“Defence is the tough part of the game and the hard part of the game,” Walters said.

“You can really see the connection among them all defensively. We have some very good players in this team who love to use the ball. That’s the easy side of the game. The tough one is the defence and making sure they don’t get across our line.”

The team’s error-riddled attack failed to gel in the series, only saved by the scramble and desperation the team showed in defence.

Walters resisted making changes to his side for the dead rubber, only bringing back skipper Isaah Yeo from concussion.

English fans were far from delighted with what they saw from their team as well, with a small group breaking into a chorus singing “You’re getting sacked in the morning” – a likely crack at England coach Shaun Wane.

Kangaroos five-eighth Cameron Munster was crowned player of the series, setting up two tries in game three on the back of a man-of-the-match performance in game two at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Harry Grant and Angus Crichton were arguably Australia’s next best players in the series.

The disappointing thing for England would have been the fact that they failed to take advantage of a sub-par performance from the Australians over the course of the series.

One local English journalist said it was the least impressive series performance that he’s seen from an Australian touring side in his three decades covering the sport.

“I was actually speaking to a couple of coaches from Australia who coach in the NRL,” Walters said.

“We’re dragging players from three different clubs into our spine. The heart of the team is the spine with your attack. These guys haven’t played a lot of footy together, so three games at this level which is pretty intense, you don’t get to second guess. In the end we scored 90-odd points. I’m pretty happy with that.”

The scoring began with a superb “Harbour Bridge” pass from Munster that set up the opening try of the game, catching England winger Joe Burgess out of position to put Josh Addo-Carr over for an early 6-0 lead.

England fullback AJ Brimson’s Ashes tour came to an end soon after when he succumbed to a shoulder injury he suffered in a tackle from Crichton.

Wane resisted the opportunity to move Dolphins superstar Herbie Farnworth to fullback and instead threw bench playmaker Mikey Lewis into the unfamiliar role.

It yielded an error from a Munster bomb, but Australia’s stuttering attack failed to punish the home side. On their next attacking pursuit, Munster again tried to expose the makeshift fullback, catching him out of position with a grubber that was pounced on by Hudson Young for a 12-0 lead.

The parochial home fans tried to ignite their team with chants like “It’s a long way back to Brisbane when you’re shit” and some bizarre song about Nathan Cleary’s chin.

It wasn’t long before they began turning on their own as frustrations began to spill over with every stray pass that failed to find its target.

England hooker Jez Litten managed to bring the 19,500 crowd back into the contest when he split through Crichton and Lindsay Collins from dummy half.

Walsh, as he did in the grand final and first Test, tried to knock down the ball but ended up clutching at thin air, with Litten dummying and grubbering for skipper George Williams to score.

A penalty for a strip after the half-time siren gifted England a penalty goal, with the home side heading into the break undeservedly trailing by just four points.

The second half was a spiteful affair with brawls erupting all over the field. It triggered an ill-disciplined moment from Walsh, who took exception to what he thought was a stray knee from Burgess to the head of Gehamat Shibasaki.

Referee Grant Atkins instead penalised Walsh for running in and pushing the England defenders, a moment that the home side failed to take advantage of with repeated sets attacking the Australian line.

The ever-menacing Grant, who was close to Australia’s best player in the series, crashed over from close range to give the visitors an 18-8 advantage with 20 minutes to go.

Walsh then put the game beyond doubt when he collected an attempted intercept from Burgess to stroll in untouched.

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