Review: Australia 65 - 3 Uruguay

Australia run out easy winners in today’s Villa Park try-fest. 11 tries in total, and a convincing bonus point victory. Two successive Aussie tries in the first 10 minutes served as an omen for things to come. Whilst a controversial Quade Cooper yellow stalled the inevitable tide of points, the floodgates were well and truly torn open late in the first.  

Man of the Match Sean McMahon touched down first off the back of a rolling maul and was quickly followed by Tomane in the corner.  Cooper’s sin binning for a high tackle stemmed the flow of points, but on his return the Aussies quickly ran in three more before the half-time whistle.

The second half continued in much the same vain as the first, with the Wallabies completely dominant. Uruguay visibly began to tire, and the pace of wide players Mitchell and Tomane began to pay dividends. Mitchell nabbed the first two tries of the half, before McCalman, Toomua and McMahon all added to the scoreline. Sean McMahon deserves special mention here, the young flanker showing pace and power all over the park to put in an impressive first World Cup performance. It could have been so much more had Cooper been on song with the boot. Finishing with just 5 from 11 from placed balls, the Queensland man will be aware that this aspect of his game must improve if he is to force his way into the side to play Wales and England. All in all, the Wallabies got what they needed from the match, a bonus point performance putting them in charge of this fiendishly difficult pool.