A Josh Addo-Carr double has seen the Kangaroos kick off their world cup defence with a thumping 42-8 win over Fiji.
The Foxx went length-of-the-field to score his fist in the tournament midway through the first half, and made it a double in the second.
The Aussies didn’t have it all their own way though – it was the Fijians who got on the board first when five-eighth Sitiveni Moceidreke put a perfect grubber through for Semi Valemei in just the third minute.
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But from their, it was all one-way traffic. Along with Addo-Carr’s double, James Tedesco, Latrell Mitchell, Angus Crichton, Jeremiah Nanai and Harry Grant all scored.
Grant was sensational off the bench, also picking up a try assist, while Cameron Munster was also brilliant. He picked up two try assists and earned himself man-of-the-match honours.
Val Holmes meanwhile was perfect with the boot, nailing all seven attempts.
Of concern though, Reuben Cotter came off the field after a nasty head clash. He is now in doubt for the Kangaroo’s second pool match against Scotland next Saturday morning (AEDT).
After the match, Munster said he didn’t feel like the side were rusty, but were definitely lacking execution.
”We should’ve scored a lot more points. We had a lot of opportunities, we just didn’t execute,” he said.
“We’ll go back to the drawing board and hopefully we’ll come back a bit better but happy with the first performance.”
He said Fiji’s early try didn’t cause any concerns within the team.
“We knew Fiji was going to come out really hard tonight, they’re really passionate and in the first 15-20 minutes we just needed to ride the wave.
“They started really well and we needed to combat that and we were lucky enough to win tonight.”
Coach Mal Meninga agreed, but said he was still happy with their performance.
“We got through it pretty well. Really happy with our defence. There are a few things to fix up with the ball but all in all, a very good first hit-out,” he said.
“The cohesion with the football wasn’t where it needs to be. We talked about it. It was going to be fairly clunky from our point of view playing together in our first game of the tournament.”
Commentator Kevin Brown said the Kangaroos defence was “superb”.
“They were very diligent, very well-organised and had great energy in that second half,” he said.
“They were flying off the line. Reuben Cotter and then Harry Grant really sped the ruck up when they came off the bench – I thought the bench were fantastic tonight for Australia.
“It was a good day for Australia. They’ll be happy about the result. There’s a lot to work on, but I believe there’s really good signs in this Australian side.”
In the other match, England also got their campaign off to a flyer, smashing Samoa 60-6. Dom Young and Elliot Whitehead both picked up doubles, while Izack Tago scored Samoa’s only points.
Anthony Milford also spent ten minutes in the bin for a late tackle midway through the second half.
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