Sep 15, 2007, 15:42 GMT
Paris - New Zealand and Australia took a giant step towards the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup with victories in their group matches on Saturday.
In Cardiff - with Edinburgh the only city outside France to host a game of the competition - the Wallabies were too strong for Wales, winning 32-20, while the All Blacks chalked up more than a century of points in a 108-13 thumping of outsiders Portugal.
Australia seemed well in control of their Pool B match at half- time, having run up a convincing 25-3 half-time lead through tries by Matt Giteau, Sterling Mortlock and Chris Latham, as well as a penalty and two conversions from Mortlock and a drop goal from the boot of Berrick Barnes.
In the second-half the home side came back strongly and Jonathan Thomas and Shane Williams scored tries for the Welsh to make the score more respectable, but Latham's second try for the Wallabies effectively put the game beyond Wales.
The bonus point the Welsh received for their three tries sees them move into second place above Fiji. Both sides have five points and should be engaged in a titanic battle for the second quarter-final place from the group.
Australia with ten points, seem in command of Pool C.
In the Stade Gerland in Lyon Portugal put up tougher-than-expected resistance to the All Blacks' charge in the Pool C match.
Top-ranked New Zealand enjoyed 16 tries against the team ranked 22nd in the world and top the pool on a maximum 10 points from two games, having already beaten Italy 76-14.
The next game in the pool will be Scotland versus Romania on Tuesday in Edinburgh.
Joe Rokocoko (2), Isaia Toeava, Ali Williams, Aaron Mauger, Jerry Collins, Chris Masoe and Andrew Hore went over for the All Blacks in the first half.
Further tries followed through Nick Evans, Brendon Leonard, Andrew Ellis, Mauger, Leon MacDonald, Conrad Smith (2) and Carl Hayman.
Portugal managed a converted Rui Cordeiro try to add to Goncalo Malheiro's earlier drop goal.
Evans converted 14 tries and claimed a personal haul of 33 points, but New Zealand finished well short of the record 145 points they ran up against Japan in 1995.
New Zealand coach Graham Henry said: 'It was a very good occasion today. We started a little slower and then got into a rhythm.
'But they didn't get over physical, showed their skills, and treated the other side with a great deal of dignity.'
Despite the heavy defeat, Portugal coach Tomaz Morais was satisfied with the performance.
'We couldn't resist their physicality, but we played rugby from the very first minute to the very last,' he said.
'Portugal went out to score a first try against New Zealand and we did that.
'We had a good positive attitude in the game, and New Zealand didn't break the record for number of points scored. All our players came out of the game as survivors.'
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