Key events
TRY! Australia 60-6 Cook Islands (Bostock, 60)
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 56-6 Cook Islands (Trbojevic, 58)
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 50-6 Cook Islands (Fa’asuamaleaui, 55)
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 44-6 Cook Islands (Preston, 52)
TRY! Australia 38-6 Cook Islands (Trbojevic, 48)
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 34-6 Cook Islands (Bostock, 46)
Half-time: Australia 28-6 Cook Islands
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 28-6 Cook Islands (Walsh, 32)
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 22-6 Cook Islands (Staggs, 26)
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 16-6 Cook Islands (Fa’asuamaleaui, 21)
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 10-6 Cook Islands (Trbojevic, 18)
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 4-6 Cook Islands (Ngatikaura, 9)
TRY! Australia 4-0 Cook Islands (Bostock, 3)
Kick-off!
Cook Islands XIII
Australia XIII
Preamble
74 mins: Now Takairangi drops the pass at first receiver on the last. Someone put a fork in this one, it is done.
72 mins: Carrigan with the loose carry just after returning to the fray off the bench.
70 mins: Marsters is enjoying a golden spell on the ball. Takairangi kicks early in the set – there’s room behind, the sprint is on – but the ball beats Rennie and Bostock and bobbles out of play.
68 mins: Cook Islands have a second wind! They regather the dropout then Teague almost hustles his way through. Ngatikaura tries to repeat his snipe from dummy-half that worked so well early on. The on the last, under the crossbar, Fa’asuamaleaui concedes a brainless penalty, and the siege continues.
67 mins: And they force a dropout! Marsters gets busy, Takairangi dabs a kick over the top, and Bostock is forced to take the conservative option.
66 mins: A rare spell of Cook Islands possession after Staggs is scragged and dragged into touch.
64 mins: Strange has made a difference coming off the bench. He’s brought urgency and intensity into the game and his effervescent has rubbed off on Munster who has played with more characteristic freedom since half-time.
62 mins: Australia think they’ve scored again but Walsh is instead pinged for a forward pass, tipping on what looked to the naked eye like a majestic try-assist to Staggs. To add injury to insult the fullback reels away in pain after taking a heavy hit from Holmes. Walsh’s kicking foot, his left, is far from 100%.
TRY! Australia 60-6 Cook Islands (Bostock, 60)
Aaaaaand another. Walsh again too quick and strong carving through the line on the left edge. He could assist on his inside to Best but chooses Bostock on his outside instead and it’s hat-tricks all round for Australia’s wingers.
Munster can’t extend his left touchline conversion streak.
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 56-6 Cook Islands (Trbojevic, 58)
Trbojevic has another Temu hat-trick. The Cooks Islands’ defence is done for the night and Walsh on the burst is way too quick and powerful to stop. He hares towards the left corner but before attempting to score himself feeds an inside pass to Trbojevic who almost fluffs his moment just inches from the line with KL Iro executing a fierce tackle but the big winger manages to plant the ball down.
Munster kicks another.
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 50-6 Cook Islands (Fa’asuamaleaui, 55)
Two six-agains in the restart set as the Kangaroos cruise deep inside Cook Islands territory. Then Tino Fa’asuamaleaui spots a gap, executes a sidestep, pins his ears back and tears towards the line for a fourth try in quick succession.
Munster continues to rack up the kicking stats.
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 44-6 Cook Islands (Preston, 52)
Australia are cutting loose now. Best makes an incursion on the left edge, Munster picks the ball speedily from the ruck and continues the momentum, fending-off one tackler then offloading to Preston on his left who does magnificently to remain in touch and dive over like vintage Xavier Coates.
Munster slots over his second touchline conversion from the left wing!
50 mins: Despite Dearden’s performance, does the absence of goal-kicking options mean Sam Walker has to start by default? There’s no way Australia can head into the knockouts with Cameron Munster as first-choice kicker, surely.
TRY! Australia 38-6 Cook Islands (Trbojevic, 48)
Strange is on to inject some energy and unpredictability. And his industry leads Australia to the 20m line, from where Australia show the cohesion that’s been lacking all world cup. Dearden marshals his right edge, Walsh enters the line, holds the ball up way longer than you can believe, then fizzes a pass out to Trbojevic who finishes in the right corner.
Munster makes a hash of his latest conversion attempt. He clearly prefers the left touchline to the right.
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 34-6 Cook Islands (Bostock, 46)
Order restored. Australia assert themselves through the middle, engineer some space on the outside, and Bostock finishes expertly, stepping in off the left touchline and busting two tackles in the process.
Munster still has kicking duties – and the part-timer nails the touchline conversion!
45 mins: Cook Islands reach halfway in reply. Takairangi runs on the last, creates some space on his right edge, but Wigmore drops a simple pass. This is not an elite start to the half from either side.
44 mins: Disjointed and sloppy from Australia inside 20m with no cohesion whatsoever in attack, highlighted by Trbojevic absolutely ironed out by Takairangi in the process. A set restart on the last spares the blushes and a couple of tackles later an overwhelmed Cook Islands defence is powerless to deny Yeo one-out from a couple of metres. But even that is found to have contained an error! The skipper didn’t maintain possession with a couple of defenders hanging off him and the Bunker removes the score.
42 mins: Simple from the Kangaroos first-up with a set punctuated by a Grant snipe that allows Dearden to gain metres on the right edge. Brown then continues his horror night by losing the ball in contact and Australia have a full set inside the red zone.
41 mins: Cook Islands get us back under way in Townsville.
Australia selection battles:
Reece Walsh has done well at fullback but he looks to be carrying a knock.
Tom Dearden has shone at halfback.
Jacob Preston has made two eye-catching try-assist linebreaks on the left edge.
There are still plenty of issues to solve for Kevin Walters though. Against modest opposition the Kangaroos have completed at just 66%, conceded seven errors, and executed only one offload. All world cup so far Australia have played with a lack of intensity and focus. It’s understandable tonight in a virtual dead rubber but the lack of leadership and attitude in green is concerning.
Feel free to spend your half-time break following the cricket. It has been South Africa’s morning so far as the third Test and the series goes down to the wire.
Half-time: Australia 28-6 Cook Islands
Australia are comfortably the superior of the two sides but there are still serious issues with execution for the defending champions.
39 mins: And Cook Islands almost make them pay! The bomb on the last isn’t dealt with and the scraps land in white hands. There are numbers on the right but a combinatino of inaccurate passing and Australia’s desperation denies the score. Cook Islands come again and Takairangi grubbers through on tackle two but the Kangaroos are well set. The underdogs get the ball back again and this time Holmes tries to grubber on the left, but to no avail.
37 mins: Another sloppy couple of phases from the Kangaroos. First up there’s a poor connection on the left edge with a try in the offing following the penalty to Munster. Then Yeo loses his bearings on halfway and instead of accepting contact throws a pass that’s both forward and off target.
35 mins: Ooof! A massive sharp intake of breath as Munster yelps in pain as Holmes near-hip-drop tackles the stand-off as he took bodies with him towards the posts. He seems ok, thankfully. Meanwhile replays show Trbojevic wincing after rolling his ankle. Kevin Walters will be keeping Ethan Strange on his toes.
34 mins: Australia with a solid restart set, Cook Islands not so much. Not only does Brown carry loosely coming out of defence he burns a captain’s challenge in the process.
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 28-6 Cook Islands (Walsh, 32)
Too easy for the Kangaroos. On defensive 30 Australia shift from the right edge through hands to Munster who holds the ball up and drops it inside to Preston who accelerates through a non-existent defensive line. For the second time tonight the Bulldog has only one man to beat and this time he draws in Holmes then offloads to Walsh on his shoulder. A training ground 70m score.
Interestingly, Munster takes over kicking duties. There has been a suggestion Walsh has picked up a foot injury. The Storm five-eighth makes no mistake with the easy conversion.
30 mins: Couple of issues on Australia’s right side with a forward pass denying Trbojevic a line break, then the Manly flyer getting beaten in the air and knocking on. Or maybe not. A captain’s challenge successfully proves the first touch in the duel was from Brown.
28 mins: Walsh has certainly done his chances of holding onto the No 1 jersey no harm so far. Dearden is rubber stamping his position at halfback, on his home patch the Cowboy has been the star for Australia so far.
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 22-6 Cook Islands (Staggs, 26)
Cook Islands are really grinding hard for little reward now. Australia are starting to squeeze the territorial game and finding runners on the burst at first and second receiver. Preston is one of those and he carves his way through the wobbly line and almost shimmies around Holmes at fullback. Then Dearden takes over, taking control on the right edge and throwing a long angled bullet pass that cuts out two white-shirted defenders and enables Staggs to extend his highlights reel.
Walsh curls over another massive hooking conversion.
23 mins: Another good restart set from Australia honoured by a long Munster kick. Cook Islands are slow to get behind the ball and look in need of some inspiration. Takairangi tries another spiral but Walsh is equal to it.
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 16-6 Cook Islands (Fa’asuamaleaui, 21)
Excellent Australian restart set. Grant snipes 30m from the ruck, Munster follows in his wake, and the kick on the last bobbles in-goal. The Cook Islands’ middle defence is all over the place at the moment, as is their counterattack, as a Holmes loose carry coming out defence creates havoc. The Kangaroos will surely score here, it’s just a case of who and when. The answer is Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, a few phases later than you might have expected.
Walsh dabs over from point blank range.
20 mins: Much like against Fiji, Australia have been below par but lead on the scoreboard.
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 10-6 Cook Islands (Trbojevic, 18)
And just like that Australia score. Cook Islands fail to nail their tackles as the Kangaroos rumble downfield and by the 30m line Grant is able to take his time at dummy-half and still unlock the overlap on his right. Dearden is vital, taking the ball to the line and opening the gap for Trbojevic on his outside to walk into the right corner.
Walsh curls over a massive hooking left-footed effort to extend the lead.
17 mins: A set restart for offside allows Cook Islands a full set 30m out. They look to the right before Takairangi redirects to the left and the powerful Iro on the burst. It’s all Cook Islands at the moment – but another kick wastes all that momentum – Takairangi overhitting on the last for Best to mark in-goal and run clear.
15 mins: Cook Islands complete a solid set and Takairangi launches a vicious spiralling torpedo. Under pressure, Bostock comes forward and marks brilliantly on the run, but a couple of phases later Grant hurls a poor pass from dummy-half that Yeo knocks on. After a bright start Australia are on the back foot.
13 mins: Holmes enters the line from fullback, steps off his left and almost, almost, gets inside Martin – if he had there was an overlap on his outside. There’s a penalty at the ruck so the outsiders can launch another full assault… but no! Winitana-Patelesio kicks on tackle two and Best mops up the harmless grubber on the line. Massive missed opportunity. Australia run clear with Dearden busy but make little ground.
11 mins: Yikes! Now Walsh belts his restart over the dead ball line. Cook Islands resume 25m out.
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 4-6 Cook Islands (Ngatikaura, 9)
Ruatapu Ngatikaura you beauty! From A1 attacking territory the Cook Islands forwards batter the line for three tackles then on a quick play-the-ball Ngatikaura throws a massive dummy to his left before wriggling between Walsh and Carrigan on the line for a memorable score! Holmes dabs over the extras and the underdogs are ahead!
9 mins: And now a penalty against Harry Grant for getting in the way of a Cook Islands kick chaser following an unremarkable set either side of halfway. Suddenly the underdogs have a full set in the red zone.
7 mins: Of course, as soon as I type that the Kangaroos make an error. Dearden creates a gap for Martin to cut into but the experienced Panther spills the pass. Australia look well balanced with Dearden on the right, Munster on the left, and Walsh assisting both on the drift.
6 mins: Australia’s restart set is solid and there’s plenty of intensity again in the defensive effort with Tino throwing his weight around. This is a far more familiar showing so far from the hosts.
TRY! Australia 4-0 Cook Islands (Bostock, 3)
The scoreboard is ticking over early and Reece Walsh has made a statement in his claims for the No 1 jersey. With the Kangaroos starting their second set just 15m out, a couple of drives towards the posts draws defenders in, then Walsh takes the second pass off the ruck from Munster, bides his time, waits for the Cook Islands to rush up, then throws a long loopy pass out to Bostock on the touchline who has the simple job of catching and touching down in the left corner. Textbook playmaking from the Bronco.
Walsh curls his conversion attempt across the face.
2 mins: A much better start from the Australian pack, denying Cook Islands any room in their opening drive. Bostock, Walsh and Best then make good metres with ball in hand allowing a dangerous high bomb on the last that Brown spills in the corner! The Kangaroos regather and they are immediately on the front foot.
Kick-off!
Reece Walsh swings his boot through the Steeden and the final match in Pool A is under way…
Time for the Cook Islands’ dramatic pregame Pe’e.
As an aside, I have pilfered stacks of my 11 year old’s halloween candy haul, so apologies in advance for the sugar crash that I’m predicting will arrive around half-time.
The two teams walk out into the muggy Townsville evening. With plenty of empty seats in the half-full arena it is not the most ferocious of welcomes.
The Kangaroos will be wearing their familiar dark green uniform with gold accents. Plenty of green in the Cook Islands outfit as well, but it is the secondary colour to a majority white base.
Tonight’s referee is NRL veteran Ashley Klein.
Conditions are tropical in north Queensland with the temperature a balmy 27C, made to feel stickier with cloud cover and high humidity. Showers are drifting around on a moderate onshore breeze.
Knockout permutations
Pool A
If Australia beat Cook Islands they will top the group.
Assuming that is the case, New Zealand will finish second and join the Kangaroos in the semi-finals.
Pool B
The winner of Tonga v Samoa tomorrow will top the group and play New Zealand in the semi-finals, the loser will finish second and face Australia.
Unless… Tonga win by more than 46 points, in which case England will progress as runners-up.
The biggest match of round three takes place tomorrow with Tonga and Samoa taking over western Sydney in a clash that will determine the make-up of the semi-finals.
Demand for tickets has been so great it has caught organisers flat-footed. A plan to move Sunday’s Tonga-Samoa blockbuster from Commbank to Accor Stadium at Olympic Park, which the NRL believes would have brought in 60,000 fans, was only unsuccessful because it would have clashed with pre-booked concerts.
Round 3 Scores
England 34-12 PNG
New Zealand 78-0 Fiji
In today’s earlier match the Kiwis continued their march to the semi-finals in a fiery encounter against Fiji. New Zealand’s Ronaldo Mulitalo was red carded for a high shot that could rule him out of next week’s action, while Fiji’s Brandon Wakeham was sent off for punching the Sharks winger after the incident. There was also bad news for Api Koroisau who broke his jaw in the first half.
Yesterday, England all-but bowed out of the competition after they failed to press home their early advantage against PNG to secure the comprehensive victory they required to keep their slim hopes alive.
But when their fate is officially sealed on Sunday, the inquest should really begin into how English rugby league has found itself in the position among international rugby league’s new-age pecking order it is in. Talk about who should coach the team or who should play half-back are distractions. If those in charge do not wake up, England will continue to drift from the world’s elite.
Team News
Australia: Kevin Walters has signalled that Reece Walsh is winning the race for Australia’s No 1 jersey after the Queenslander was selected at fullback ahead of New South Welshman James Tedesco. The other crucial decision has fallen the way of Tom Dearden, with the Cowboy edging out halfback rival Sam Walker.
Up front, Walters has reverted to the forward pack that started against New Zealand in round one, suggesting places remain up for grabs in the engine room. The only figure to miss out through injury is Cameron Murray, who was a late withdrawal from the bench.
Cook Islands: Just the one change to Karmichael Hunt’s squad, and it’s an enforced one, with last week’s hat-trick hero Esom Ioka missing out with injury. Esan Marsters comes off the interchange and onto the wing with Pride Petterson-Robati moving onto the bench. There’s also a shuffle in the starting XIII with Chaev Kolone taking the No 11 jersey from Amare Milford.
Cook Islands XIII
1. Valentine Holmes 2. Cameron Brown 3. KL Iro (c) 4. Reubenn Rennie 5. Esan Marsters 6. Maui Winitana-Patelesio 7. Brad Takairangi 8. Davvy Moale 9. Ruatapu Ngatikaura 10. Rhys Dakin 11. Chaev Kolone 12. Delahia Wigmore 13. Mason Teague.
Interchange: 14. David Tuariki 15. Makahesi Makatoa 16. Pride Petterson-Robati 17. Amare Milford 18. K-Ci Newton-Whare 19. Glassie Glassie
Australia XIII
1. Reece Walsh 2. Jack Bostock 3. Kotoni Staggs 4. Bradman Best 5. Tom Trbojevic 6. Cameron Munster 7. Tom Dearden 8. Patrick Carrigan 9. Harry Grant 10. Tino Fa’asuamaleaui 11. Jacob Preston 12. Liam Martin 13. Isaah Yeo (c).
Interchange: 14. Ethan Strange 15. Keaon Koloamatangi 17. Reuben Cotter 18. Lindsay Smith 19. James Tedesco 22. David Fifita
Preamble
Jonathan Howcroft
Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of Australia v Cook Islands in the 2026 men’s Rugby League World Cup. Kick-off at Queensland Country Bank Stadium in Townsville is from 7.05pm local time (8.05pm AEDT/9.05am GMT).
The hosts and favourites have been unconvincing in their two victories so far but they are still just 80 minutes away from topping Pool A and reaching the semi-finals. Against a Cook Islands side that has already lost to New Zealand and Fiji, the assignment for the Kangaroos is to find some form ahead of a far sterner task next weekend against either Tonga or Samoa.
Of particular note this evening will be the battle for the No 1 and No 7 jerseys. Reece Walsh and Tom Dearden have been given the nod by Kevin Walters but either could play their way out of the side with James Tedesco and Sam Walker nipping at their heels. Walters will also be eager for a reaction from his pack after consecutive humblings.
This is the Kangaroos’ final tune-up before the serious action begins. It is an opportunity that cannot be wasted.
I’ll be back with final team lists and more shortly. Please send me your emails and keep me company throughout the evening. The address is jonathan.howcroft.freelance@theguardian.com.
