The Wallabies have scrapped to a 47-10 win over the United States Eagles in their final Rugby World Cup warm up match at Soldier Field in Chicago.
The hosts had the 23,212-strong crowd dreaming of almighty upset when they trailed just 14-10 at halftime against a largely second-string Australian outfit that struggled to find rhythm.
But the Australians picked up a gear early in the second half to go clear then piled on further late points.
Bernard Foley, Nick Phipps, Sean McMahon, Dean Mumm, Kurtley Beale, Quade Cooper and Taqele Naiyaravoro all bagged tries for the Wallabies with five eighth Foley adding six from seven with the boot.
After a glut of early possession Australian-born Eagles lock Greg Peterson was shown a yellow card for repeated infringements in just the seventh minute and two minutes later Foley opened the scoring.
He neatly stepped off his left foot from a Phipps scrumbase pass and touched down under the posts for an early 7-0 lead.
Phipps went from provider to scorer six minutes later after some impressive work from Foley, skipper James Slipper and number eight Wycliff Palu.
A deep 22metre restart from the Eagles was taken by Foley who sent Slipper into a half gap, with the prop sending Palu into the clear with a neat offload.
Palu calmly drew the last line of defence to send Phipps on his way for a 14-0 lead.
Just as it appeared the floodgates might open for the visitors, the Eagles found some rhythm and after a 20th minute penalty goal they set the home crowd roaring with a try to halfback Mike Petri.
Takudzwa Ngwenya burst down the right sideline on a lengthy run before being brought down just short of the line but the winger popped a neat pass for the supporting Petri.
AJ MacGinty’s conversion had the locals dreaming of a boilover as they went to the sheds down 14-10.
No doubt on the end of a rocket from coach Michael Cheika at the break, the Wallabies forwards lifted the tempo in the second half with McMahon going over from a rolling maul in the 49th minute and replacement Mumm crashing over on the right fringe soon after.
Beale shut the gate after he finished off a 90-metre special when an Eagles lineout went long and Henry Speight pounced before combining with Joe Tomane and McMahon.
Two tries in the final five minutes to Cooper and debutant Naiyaravoro blew out the score.
Importantly the Wallabies appeared to get through without injury as they continue preparations for their World Cup opener against Fiji in Cardiff on September 23.
