With a smile, a wink and a cheeky jibe, Australian superstar Reece Walsh shrugged off vile abuse from a small section of English fans during the Kangaroos’ victory over England at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Unlike the NRL where sin-binned players are sent into the dressing room for 10 minutes, Walsh was able to take his place on the sideline after he was given a yellow card by referee Grant Atkins with 14 minutes remaining.

Walsh plonked himself on a tackling pad a metre away from the fans and had to endure a barrage of abuse from a handful of English fans who made homophobic references, called him a bastard and mocked him for wearing nail polish .

While security had to intervene to warn one of the spectators, Walsh refrained from returning serve with any distasteful gestures or comments

See Full Page