Four-try Latham shines in Australian first-half rout

HT: Australia 69 Namibia 0

Australia wasted little time setting the expected big score against Namibia at Adelaide, running up a 69-0 lead by half-time.

Full-back Chris Latham grabbed four tries as the Australians rattled up 11 between them before the break to put themselves in complete control.

The few attacking opportunities Namibia did have were usually spoiled by poor execution, giving the hosts chance to strike back.

Namibia had their first chance to attack in the 21st minute when Harrison was penalised for holding on in the tackle, but blew it when the line-out throw was so crooked it went straight to the Australian scrum-half.

The Africans were given a second bite of the cherry when Whittaker was penalised for not feeding the scrum correctly, but a midfield break-down saw Australia kick forward and mount another attack as full-back Ronaldo Pedro fumbled.

From that scrum, Latham claimed his third of the day as he latched onto a pass from Rogers, who also converted to make it 47-0.

In the 28th minute, Namibia coach Waterston decided to throw on professional lion tamer Schalk van der Merwe to try and instil some ferocity, but it failed to spark his team as Rogers grabbed Australia’s eighth try from a sweeping counter-attack.

Another well-executed attack in the 32nd minute gave Jeremy Paul his seventh Test try, his team’s ninth for the day.

The 10th try of the match came when Giteau fed Tuqiri wide on the right, the former rugby league international bagging his second of the day.

Latham claimed a place in the history books as he scored his fourth, equalling for the second time the Australian Test record for tries in a match and make it 69-0.