Australia 37 Canada 6

Wallabies back-rower David Lyons's comeback to Test rugby was soured when he was taken from the field with an ankle injury in Australia's 31-point win over Canada early this morning, Sydney time.

In wet and slippery conditions at the Stade Chaban Delmas, Lyons, who had overcome deep-vein thrombosis, came off the field after being tackled in the 44th minute.

By the 60th minute Lyons was seen, with his ankle heavily strapped, being taken into the Wallabies' locker room on a wheelchair, placing his future at this World Cup in doubt.

While Australia dominated with a six-tries-to-nil display, the scoreline was flattering when compared to the standard of game that contained far more errors than the well-oiled finished phases all had hoped for.

After 21 minutes, Australia led only 3-0. Those first points came from a Julian Huxley penalty kick from 25 metres out in the second minute.

The Wallabies forwards were on top of the Canadians though, dominating the early lineouts and scrums, on one occasion - in the sixth minute - gaining 25m from a rolling maul from their own 10m mark.

With possession - as well as territorial gain - clearly on the Wallabies' side from a mixed bag of kicking and mid-field busts, it seemed only a matter of time before Australia would score their first try.

Wallabies No.6 Hugh McMeniman had one attempt disallowed in the 19th minute with the video ref declaring he hadn't got ball to ground as he barged to the Canadian line with three defenders on him.

The Canucks got out of jail in the ensuing scrum when Wallabies prop Al Baxter, playing his 50th Test and primed for a physical clash to push for selection in Saturday's quarter-final knock-out against England in Marseilles, was pinged for boring in by the referee on the third reset.

But it was Baxter who finally produced the spark for the Wallabies. He scored his first Test try, in the 24th minute, off an outside pass from Wallabies No.12 Adam Ashley-Cooper that resulted in him barrelling into Canadian halfback Morgan Williams to score in the corner. While Huxley missed the conversion, Australia took an 8-0 lead.

They extended that lead to 13-0 in the 33rd minute when, again, the Wallabies pack used their rolling maul to push hooker Adam Freier over for their second try.

Canada's first points finally came a minute after the half-time break, courtesy of

their Australian No.11 James Pritchard, from Parkes, who kicked a penalty awarded against Australia for hands in the ruck.

Australia's third try, by captain George Smith, was a soft gift from the Canucks, even if it did bring some cheer from an otherwise frustrated crowd. Unconverted, it took the Wallabies to an 18-3 lead.

From there the game wore on tediously with stops and starts, with only the sound of a band providing entertainment - even as Canada again profited from a penalty in the 53rd minute to claw back to 18-6.

It was Australia making many of the mistakes, with dropped balls, fumbles and relative disorder at the breakdown.

Wallabies winger Drew Mitchell's two tries, in the 62nd and 64th minutes, and one to fullback Chris Latham in the 74th minute, clinched the win for Australia in their final group match.