Australia  31 Wales 0:Wales winger Chris Czekaj will be out of rugby for up to a year following the broken right leg he suffered at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium.

The injury cast a huge shadow over Gareth Jenkins's tourists as they flew home in the knowledge the five-times capped Cardiff Blue will miss the World Cup and 2008 Six Nations Championship.

Czekaj suffered the injury in the 22nd minute, twisting badly as he tried to offload in a tackle by the Wallaby hooker Stephen Moore.

The 21-year-old underwent surgery yesterday in Brisbane and has been told he cannot fly home for at least 14 days after the operation.

Australia coach John Connolly admitted an error-ridden first-half performance against Wales prompted an "urgent" call for veteran George Gregan to replace Matt Giteau at halfback.

And Connolly even hinted that Gregan, the former captain whose introduction inspired Australia to a 31-0 win, could have a role to play through the Tri-Nations and the World Cup.

The most capped Test player of all time turned a terrible spectacle into something to cheer for a healthy Brisbane crowd after replacing Adam Ashley-Cooper at half-time with the score at 6-0.

He had a hand in all three tries to guide Australia to their first shut-out victory over the Welsh in 25 meetings. Connolly admitted Gregan's introduction "made a significant difference".

Australia's new-look back three provided the spark.

Before the second Test Wales had signalled their intentions to challenge Australia's inexperienced wings and fullback, but they were unable to contain the trio and Digby Ioane, Drew Mitchell and Julian Huxley crossed for sparkling tries to lift a match that was drifting until Gregan came on.

AUSTRALIA: J Huxley; D Ioane, S Mortlock, A Ashley-Cooper, D Mitchell; S Larkham, M Giteau; B Robinson, S Moore, G Shepherdson; N Sharpe, D Vickerman; R Elsom, G Smith, W Palu. Replacements: M Dunning for Robinson (51 mins), P Waugh for Smith (59 mins), M Gerrard for Giteau (66 mins), S Hoiles for Palu (71 mins).

WALES: G Thomas; C Czekaj, J Robinson, S Parker, A Brew; J Hook, M Phillips; I Thomas, M Davies, C Jones; M Owen, R Sidoli; C Charvis, G Thomas, J Thomas. Replacements: G Henson for Czekaj (22 mins), C Sweeney for Robinson (30 mins), S Morgan for Sidoli (62 mins), A Williams for Phillips (75 mins), R Sowden-Taylor for G Thomas (70 mins).

Referee: P Honiss (New Zealand).