Connolly demands improvement from Wallabies

Australia coach John Connolly demanded more from his side after they breezed into the World Cup quarter-finals with a comfortable 55-12 victory over Fiji.

The Wallabies took nearly 20 minutes to find their rhythm but eventually scored seven tries with Matt Giteau claiming two in a 27-point haul.

Drew Mitchell bagged a hat-trick and there were tries apiece for Adam Ashley-Cooper and replacement forward Stephen Hoiles.

Australia will face either England or Tonga in the quarter-finals and Connolly knows they will need to improve.

"We are happy with the result and if anyone had offered this to us three weeks ago, that we would finish top of the pool, we'd have taken it,'' said Connolly.

"We are not overly happy with the way we played but we can take a certain amount of satisfaction that we scored 50-odd points, we won and we know where we are headed.

"At the start we didn't get any momentum, we didn't get any go forward and we went across the pitch too much.

"We played some very good rugby but we were loose in other sections and that is a concern for us.

"Mentally we just weren't there for the game at times. We played as individuals.''

Australia captain George Gregan added: "The start wasn't what we had planned for. Credit should go to Fiji. They came out very spirited.

"We'll be honest in our appraisal and we'll look to improve.''

Australia will consider overnight whether to send for a replacement player after Scott Staniforth damaged his shoulder only minutes after coming off the bench.

"We are not sure how bad it is. We would like him to play next Saturday against Canada,'' Connolly added.

Fiji made 11 changes for this match and their game was riddled with mistakes, handling errors and careless penalties conceded at the lineout which frequently sacrificed promising field position.

But Fiji are set to be back at full-strength for next weekend's winner-takes-all showdown with Wales in Nantes.

At stake is a quarter-final clash with South Africa and coach Ilie Tabua said: "It will be tough. We have to beat Wales to be in the quarters, which is our goal.

"Next week we will be more more controlled. We gave away a lot of penalties in the lineout and in the scrum which cost us today when we got into Australian territory.''

Fiji's captain Seremaia Bai only had a handful of hours' sleep before the game after driving back to Clermont Ferrand to be with his wife who gave birth yesterday.

"We played some good rugby. There were some positive things today. We are confident we will be ready for Wales next week.

Fiji have called up ex-Biarritz winger Sereli Bobo as a replacement for Vilimoni Delasau, who has an ankle injury.