Back-rower Toutai Kefu grabbed a hat-trick of tries as World Cup heavyweights Australia ran in nine to trounce Romania 57-9 in their Pool E match at soggy Ravenhill ground in Belfast.
Replacement wing Joe Roff grabbed a pair, while Tim Horan, Jason Little, substitute hooker Jeremy Paul and fullback Matthew Burke also crossed the line. Burke landed five conversions and John Eales one. The Australians dominated throughout. They were simply too quick and too slick for their outgunned opponents in what was little more than a training run.
The one-sided proceedings were enlivened, however, by the late incursion onto the pitch of two Australian streakers -- one male and one female, who earned one of the biggest cheers of the night. The Wallabies led after just 90 seconds after they won a 5-metre scrum and the ball passed through the hands of George Gregan and Rod Kafer to allow centre Horan to cross the line unchallenged.
Burke failed to add the extra points but Tongan-born number eight Kefu scored the second Australian try after seven minutes when he collected a clever reverse pass from Gregan. This time Burke was successful and the Aussies led 12-0. The pattern was set.
The Romanians got on the board after 13 minutes with a penalty from clever scrum-half Petre Mitu after he had been obstructed but it was a rare success for the eastern Europeans. Kefu got his second try after 24 minutes when the Australians won another scrum and were able to push their way over the line. Burke was again successful with his kick.
A crossfield kick from Horan was fumbled by wing Cristian Sauan and Jason Little turned to dot the ball down fully five minutes into time added on. This time, Burke's kick missed. The Australians made three changes at halftime and it took less than three minutes before Roff, on for Ben Tune, strolled over the line. Burke's kick made it 31-3. Roff took only six more minutes to add his second try.
The Australian survived a few uncomfortable moments before Paul scored his third test try in the 65th minute, followed by Burke crossing three minutes later. Burke converted both. Mitu then landed a pair of late penalties for the Romanians before Kefu completed his hat-trick with just a couple of minutes remaining. Eales took over the kicking duties and was successful.
The Aussies made a late change when flanker Matt Cockbain withdrew with a left knee injury he suffered during the pre-match warm-up and was replaced by Owen Finegan -- but the change was academic given their superiority.
The Australians, world champions in 1991, are undoubtedly one of the tournament favourites after their Bledisloe Cup win over New Zealand five weeks ago.
The Teams:
Romania: 1 Laurentiu Rotaru, 2 Petre Balan, 3 Constantin Stan, 4 Tiberiu Brinza, 5 Ovidiu Slusariuc, 6 Alin Petrache, 7 Erdinci Septar, 8 Catalin Draguceanu, 9 Petre Mitu, 10 Roland Vusec, 11 Cristian Sauan, 12 Gabriel Brezoianu, 13 Romeo Gontineac (c), 14 Gheorghe Solomie, 15 Mihai Vioreanu
Reserves: Daniel Chiriac, Florin Corodeanu, Nicolae Dragos Dima, Razvan Mavrodin
Unused: Marius Iacob, Radu Fugigi, Ionut Tofan
Australia: 1 Andrew Blades, 2 Phil Kearns, 3 Richard Harry, 4 John Eales (c), 5 David Giffin, 6 Owen Finegan, 7 David Wilson, 8 Toutai Kefu, 9 George Gregan, 10 Rod Kafer, 11 Jason Little, 12 Dan Herbert, 13 Tim Horan, 14 Ben Tune, 15 Matthew Burke
Reserves: Mark Connors, Dan Crowley, Nathan Grey, Jeremy Paul, Joe Roff, Tiaan Strauss, Chris Whitaker
Attendance: 12500
Referee: Honiss p
Points Scorers
Romania
Pen K.: Mitu P. 3
Australia
Tries: Burke M.C. 1, Horan T.J. 1, Kafer R. 1, Kefu R.S.T. 3, Little J.S. 1, Roff J.W.C. 2
Conv: Burke M.C. 5, Eales J.A. 1
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