Wallabies slaughter gutsy Uruguay
Sean McMahon led Australia to the top of their group ahead of crunch matches with arch rivals England and Wales.
Two tries each from McMahan, returning exile Drew Mitchell and Ben McCalman helped the Wallabies bag the bonus point win but they largely appeared to do the minimum necessary for victory in the Pool A match at Villa Park.
Henry Speight got one of the tries of the tournament at the end of a 65 metre run. Joe Tomane, Dean Mumm, Matt Toomua and Tevita Kuridrani got the others.
With the starting XV boasting 14 changes from the side that laboured to an opening 28-13 victory over Fiji, Australia were by far the superior team.
McMahon, who played a vintage game at openside flank against an out-powered and outpaced opposition, opened the scoring, peeling off from a driving maul for an easy run-in.
From the restart, McMahon broke clear, the ball was played right, Quad Cooper's smart offload seeing Tomane in for a try with Uruguay looking shaky in defence.
The other side of Cooper's game was witnessed when he caught Uruguay scrumhalf Agustin Ormaechea around the neck and flung him to the floor. French referee Pascal Gauzere had no option but to brandish a yellow card.
The Australian team completely dominated the set-piece, but poor handling ruined many a clean line-break. Felipe Berchesi kicked a 24th minute penalty for Uruguay, just desserts for a dogged display by a team boasting just four professional players and ranked just 19th in the world.
As Cooper came back on, a consolidated Wallaby advance ended with skipper Mumm shrugging off the lame challenge of Leandro Leivas to dot down. The requisite bonus point came on the half-hour mark when a slick backline move resulted in Speight sprinting in with a swallow-dive to the corner.
Cooper's deftness was then on display, a beautiful inside pass finding flank McCalman for a simple run-in. Uruguay's best break of the half came when Berchesi broke free, a fantastic McMahon tap tackle snuffing out the attack.
Mitchell, after an error-ridden first 40 minutes, was first on the scoresheet in the second period, the Toulon wing jinking his way past five defenders for a memorable try.
The wing, like club mate Matt Giteau a beneficiary of the Australian Rugby Union's relaxation of eligibility rules for overseas-based players, was over the whitewash for a second time four minutes later, running a tightrope down his left wing into the corner.
McCalman and McMahon bagged their respective braces as Uruguay struggled to contain the second-string Australian team, albeit one boasting more than 800 caps.
There were late tries for centres Toomua and Kuridrani, rubbing salt into the wounds of an outclassed Uruguay, who are yet to play Fiji and England.
Man of the match: Each Uruguain player attempted to make life difficult for the Wallabies. Drew Mitchell came into his own in the second half while Henry Speight and Joe Tomane showed their finishing prowess. Quade Cooper was good with ball in hand and running the show but his goal-kicking let him down. However, our award goes to Sean McMahon who was absolutely everywhere and got things going for the Wallabies.
Moment of the match: Any of Australia's tries could be considered but the sheer determination and courage of the South Americans to opt for attacking line-outs instead of kicking for posts throughout the match showed plenty of guts.
Villain of the match: Quade Cooper may have gotten the only yellow card of the match and Will Skelton was flirting with danger throughout but the match was played in a good spirit.
Scorers:
For Australia:
Tries: McMahon 2, Tomane, Mumm, Speight, McCalman 2, Mitchell 2, Toomua, Kuridrani
Cons: Cooper 5
For Uruguay:
Pen: Berchesi
Yellow card: Quade Cooper (Australia, 15 – foul play, neck roll)
Teams:
Australia: 15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Joe Tomane, 13 Henry Speight, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 Sean McMahon, 6 Ben McCalman, 5 Will Skelton, 4 Dean Mumm (captain), 3 Toby Smith, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Scott Sio.
Replacements: 16 Stephen Moore, 17 Sekope Kepu, 18 Greg Holmes, 19 Kane Douglas, 20 Rob Simmons, 21 Will Genia, 22 Bernard Foley, 23 Tevita Kuridrani.
Uruguay: 15 Gaston Mieres, 14 Leandro Leivas, 13 Joaquin Prada, 12 Andres Vilaseca, 11 Rodrigo Silva, 10 Felipe Berchesi, 9 Agustin Ormaechea, 8 Juan Manuel Gaminara, 7 Matias Beer, 6 Juan de Freitas, 5 Franco Lamanna, 4 Santiago Vilaseca (captain), 3 Mario Sagario, 2 German Kessler, 1 Mateo Sanguinetti.
Replacements: 16 Nicolas Klappenbach, 17 Oscar Duran, 18 Carlos Arboleya, 19 Alejandro Nieto, 20 Diego Magno, 21 Fernando Bascou, 22 Alejo Duran, 23 Alberto Roman.
Referee: Pascal Gauzère (France)
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)
