Australia bounced back from their disappointing loss to Scotland at the weekend with a commanding 31-3 win by their Dirt Trackers over the Cardiff Blues at the Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday.

The four-try rout came courtesy of a late rally which saw two converted tries scored in the last three minutes, but in essence the Wallabies were good value for the margin of victory as they had dominated territory and possession for large parts of the game.

Tuesday's victory set the Wallabies up for this weekend's clash with Wales and was a much-needed win after last week's shock reverse at Murrayfield - the first time Australia had lost to Scotland in 27 years - followed their grand slam-ending draw with Ireland.

The Wallabies lost six times to Cardiff as a club, but there was never any danger of them going down to the regional team which sprang out of one of the traditional powerhouses of Welsh rugby.

The Australians were far more accurate than their hosts, finishing off the opportunities they created in testing conditions.

It started very badly for the Wallabies, as flyhalf Matt Toomua left the field in the second minute after a knock to the head - his Wallaby debut lasting all of two minutes!

A minute later the Blues opened the scoring through a Ben Blair penalty, but that was to be their only scoring act of the game.

They had opportunities - often turning down kickable shots at goal and opting for line-outs or scrums. But the fierce Wallaby defence held them, at bay for the entire game.

The Blues' ordinary skills levels certainly didn't help matters either.

In the fifth minute Ryan Cross scored the first of Australia's four tries, after James O'Connor had split the Cardiff defence. O'Connor added the conversion and the tourists had a lead they never conceded.

O'Connor slotted a 20th minute penalty, before a mistake by Cardiff handed the Wallabies their next try on a platter - Kurtley Beale getting the try right on the stroke of half-time. O'Connor converted to make it 17-3 at the break.

The scoreline stayed unchanged - despite yellow cards to Richard Brown and Matt Hodgson for repeated infringements at the breakdown - till the 77th minute.

A break from debutant Richard Kingi, who slipped a ball to another debutant Luke Morahan, set up the latter for Australia's third try. O'Connor again converted.

And a miscued kick by from the Blues' Wallaby flyhalf Sam Norton-Knight saw the Aussies race away and Beale scoring his second try. O'Connor converted to end the match on 31-3.

The scorers:

For the Cardiff Blues:
Pen: Blair

For Australia:
Tries: Cross, Beale 2, Morahan
Cons: O'Connor 4
Pen: O'Connor

Yellow cards: Richard Brown (Australia, 49 - repeated infringements), Matt Hodgson (Australia, 70 - repeated infringements)

Teams:

Cardiff Blues: 15 Ben Blair, 14 Richard Mustoe, 13 Gareth Thomas, 12 Dafydd Hewitt, 11 Chris Czekaj, 10 Sam Norton-Knight, 9 Gareth Cooper, 8 Xavier Rush (captain), 7 Ben White, 6 Sam Warburton, 5 Scott Morgan, 4 Deiniol Jones, 3 Gary Powell, 2 T Rhys Thomas, 1 Taufa'au Filise
Replacements: 16 Gareth Williams, 17 Sam Hobbs, 18 Paul Tito, 19 Robin Sowden Taylor, 20 Richie Rees, 21 Ceri Sweeney, 22 Gavin Evans

Australia: 15 James O'Connor, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Ryan Cross, 12 Tyrone Smith, 11 Kurtley Beale, 10 Matt Toomua, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Richard Brown, 7 Matt Hodgson, 6 Mitchell Chapman, 5 Dean Mumm (captain), 4 Dave Dennis, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Pekahou Cowan.
Replacements: 16 Salesi Ma'afu, 17 Matt Dunning, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 George Smith, 20 Richard Kingi, 21 Quade Cooper, 22 Luke Morahan.

Referee: James Jones (Wales)