Australia 37-6 Canada: Wallabies winger Drew Mitchell continued his try-scoring feast at the World Cup with a double in Australia's 37-6 victory over Canada today.
Mitchell crossed twice in the second half to lift his tally for
the tournament to seven tries from just four games, breaking David
Campese's Australian record for the most tries in a single World
Cup with his six in 1991.
Mitchell's seven touchdowns is already the most by any player
at this World Cup and just one short of the all-time record of
eight, which was set by New Zealand's Jonah Lomu in 1999.
Chris Latham, Adam Freier, Al Baxter and George Smith also
helped themselves to tries as the Wallabies finished the pool phase
with another resounding, albeit error-strewn, win.
The Wallabies were already assured of their place in the
quarter-finals against England so were able to rest their best
players for a match that had no bearing on the competition and
understandably lacked intensity.
The new combination were never in danger of losing to Canada
but struggled to turn their dominance into points, lacking cohesion
and repeatedly losing possession in the slippery conditions.
Australia opened the scoring in fewer than two minutes when
flyhalf Julian Huxley landed a penalty from in front but failed to
impose themselves on Canada in the first 40 minutes as steady rain
made the ball greasy.
Baxter celebrated his 50th appearance for the Wallabies by
scoring his first test try in the 24th minute, diving over in the
left corner as the Australians started finding cracks in the
Canadian defence.
When Freier crashed over from the back of a maul 10 minutes
later, the Australians looked to be on their way to a huge win but
the anticipated rout never materialised.
Canada held the Australians to 13-0 at halftime and opened
their own account with two penalties from James Pritchard in the
second term before running out of puff in the final half hour.
Smith was gifted a try when Canadian hooker Pat Riordan threw
the ball straight to him off a lineout before Mitchell and Latham
joined in the act, giving Australia maximum points from their pool
games.
Canada finished bottom of the Pool B standings without a single win for the first time at a World Cup.