Every Kangaroos rookie dreams of a try on debut but Australian winger Brett Morris thought his chances had gone out the window thanks to an untimely case of the stumbles.
The feet that served Morris so well in propelling the St George Illawarra winger to an NRL-best 25 tries this season let him down at the worst possible time on Saturday night, the flyer face-planting the turf as he set sail for the line in Australia's 20-all draw with New Zealand in London.
The line wasn't quite wide-open with the Kangaroos trailing 6-nil, but the invitation was there, an invitation Morris had taken advantage of on more than one occasion with the Dragons in 2009.
But down he went, coughing up possession in the process.
"I was trying to set up an in and away on the fullback and I went to step off my foot and I fell down a hole," said Morris, who had his mother and father in the stands to watch his first appearance in the green and gold.
"I put my foot down and went down about six foot into the ground, tripped over and looked like an idiot.
"It wasn't too good."
The 23-year-old soon made amends however as he finished off a flowing movement involving Melbourne pair Cameron Smith and Greg Inglis, Smith delivering a clever out the back flick inside his own half before Inglis drew in the fullback and passed for Morris to cap a memorable night.
"I was sucking in seagulls 40 metres back when they made that break," he said.
"It was good for GI to slow up and wait for me and give me a nice easy one for a debut."
The fluency displayed in that try was the exception rather than the norm, with Australia's other two four-pointers lacking the flash of brilliance normally associated with the classy backline.
Smith's match-leveller in the dying stages came off the back of a ball which had hit the deck, while Johnathan Thurston admitted his one-on-one strip and try when he robbed Lance Hohaia of the ball early in the second half was pure accident.
"My hands and my arm got stuck under the ball and I just ripped it out," Thurston said.
"It was just luck."
