Rugby League World Cup | In 15 tries, the kangaroos succeed in the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Josh Addo-Carr scored four tries, Campbell Graham scores three on his debut.
One of Coventry’s most well-known historical individuals is Lady Godiva, who, according to tradition, famously rode through the English city on horseback in the 11th century while bare-naked in protest of heavy taxes. As they destroyed Scotland 84-0 in their second Rugby League World Cup game on Friday night, the Kangaroos marched through the town, of course fully attired.
Given the disparity between the defending World Cup champions and the underdog Bravehearts, who rely mostly on lower league players of English and Australian ancestry, the outcome was never much in question in the soggy West Midlands.
The sole previous match between the two nations occurred at the 2016 Four Nations in Hull, and the result was a similarly lopsided 54-12 victory for the home team.
Australia thrashes Scotland
Rugby League World Cup Australia scored seven tries in the first half and eight more in the second, but the damage was even worse this time. Josh Addo-Carr scored four tries, Campbell Graham scored a hat-trick, and Nathan Cleary ended with a personal total of 28 points, including a touchdown and 12 goals.
Prior to the game, coach Mal Meninga made substitutions and gave debuts to Matt Burton, Graham, Cleary, Liam Martin, Isaah Yeo, and Lindsay Collins. Given that Cleary is the Kangaroos’ back-up halfback at this time, their depth is unmatched by Nathan Graham, Meninga’s rival.
A moment of silence was observed before the game to honour Redcliffe footballer Liam Hampson, who was discovered dead at a Barcelona nightclub earlier this week. Hampson, a close friend of Kangaroos prop Patrick Cadigan, was flying to Spain with a number of NRL athletes.
collective position
After Australia humiliated the Scots by a record margin, Cherry-Evans and Cleary are set to start together in the middle of the field against the Italians in a dead rubber match.
After the game, coach Meninga described Cleary as “a terrific player.”
“He played pretty well under control. He did a great job of controlling the pace for us with his kicking.
We will keep our feet on the ground and make the difficult decisions when they arise because we have some significant difficulties ahead of us.
The Bravehearts needed to play flawlessly if they were to have any hope of unsettling the Kangaroos since Scotland is a far cry from the team that held New Zealand to a draw in the 2016 Four Nations.
But they battled so much that throughout the course of the 80 minutes, they just had one play-the-ball in Australia’s 20-meter zone.
Due to a mistake on the opening kickoff, Australia rapidly got going, with Cleary scoring Addo-Carr and Jack Wighton inside the first 10 minutes.
