Australia 67-5 USA
Jack Leahy
Despite the jugular presence of Trinity alumnus Scott LaValla in Eddie O’Sullivan’s US Eagles side, Australia returned to winning ways with a comprehensive eleven-try victory at Eden Park.
One-time Leinster flanker Rocky Elsom and Rob Horne got the scoreboard ticking over early on before JJ Gagiano’s try surprised the Tri-Nations champions with a first-half effort.
The impressive Kurtley Beale and Anthony Fainga’a ensured an Australian bonus point before the half-time whistle as O’Sullivan’s second-string struggled to keep pace with the free-flowing Aussies.
And Robbie Deans’ side managed to find another gear as top sides do in this sort of fixtures, plundering six unanswered tries in the second half. Three of these came from Adam Ashley-Cooper in sport’s best six-minute period since a night in Istanbul in 2005.
The Wallabies began nervously, with Quade Cooper twice fumbling to suggest that his post-Ireland hangover was yet to be expelled.
He soon made amends in some slight measure for an apathetic showing last weekend, jinking past some lazy tackles to give impetus to the move finished off by Horne. Elsom added the second after a stylish step inside to beat the last man.
While the omens at this early stage were not good for the Eagles, they exerted themselves to apply five minutes of constant pressure. Gagiano scored in the corner having evaded Elsom following a comprehensive scrummaging triumph for the men in white.
The shock was not allowed to fester as the Wallabies sought to restore the game’s status quo. Beale and Fainga’a scored tries from the opposing ends of the back-play spectrum, Beale finishing off a length-of-the-field team effort before Fainga’a crashed over by the force of his own body mass.
Stade Francais second-row and Philosophy and Political Science graduate Lavalla had a quiet game in his first international start, but by all accounts he has adapted well to the transition from College Park to Eden Park.
The tries kept on coming in a second half played almost exclusively on US territory. Drew Mitchell forced his way over before Ashley-Cooper’s quick-fire hat-trick took brought up Australia’s half-century of points. Fainga’a and bulldozing number eight Radike Samo finished off what was more certainly a rout.
