Stirling Mortlock on the burst. (Getty Images)

By Gareth Duggan, PA Sport, Adelaide

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Australia tore up the record books by demolishing Namibia in their Pool A match in Adelaide.

Chris Latham scored an Australian record of five tries, Mat Rogers set a new national points-scoring record of 42 points - and the winning margin was the biggest in World Cup history.

It was also the first time Australia had ever gone past the century mark in a Test match, giving the Adelaide crowd a stunning demonstration of rugby.

Australia were utterly dominant in the opening 40 minutes, taking just 11 minutes to secure the bonus point with their fourth try and less than half an hour to the reach 50 points.

Plenty of cricketers on this ground would be more than happy with that sort of performance - and it put the crowd into a party spirit.

Barely two minutes had elapsed before full-back Latham opened the scoring, taking a brilliant flicked pass from Lote Tuqiri wide on the right.

Nine minutes later and the bonus point was wrapped up, Stirling Mortlock scything through in midfield for his team's fourth after David Lyons had scored the second and Latham the third.

Tuqiri took a superb Matt Giteau pass for the fifth and the Adelaide Oval scoreboard was gathering the sort of momentum normally created by a batsman in full flight.

A penalty try for a professional foul at a scrum was the sixth, then Latham collected a well-timed pass from Rogers for the seventh.

Rogers scored one of his own, while hooker Jeremy Paul, Tuqiri and Latham all touched down again for the Wallabies as the rout developed.

Latham's fourth made him only the first Australian ever to score that many in a Test match twice.

He went one better in the second half, dotting down in the 73rd minute for his fifth to put previous fellow record holders David Campese, Jason Little and Greg Cornelsen in the shade.

Tuqiri and Giteau were both outstanding as they grabbed hat-tricks of their own, the latter producing an outstanding display of handling at fly-half.

Morgan Turinui showed some classy touches as he came on as a replacement, scoring two tries, and John Roe also came off the bench and bagged a try on his Test debut.

The victory will have done little for the credibility of the tournament, but it left the crowd of 28,196 happy enough after the first ever Test in the city.

The fans also got behind Namibia in the closing stages, willing the Africans to at least make an impression on the big old scoreboard at the famous cricket venue.

But in the end it was a century for Australia and a host of new entries in the record books for World Cup hosts.

Teams

Australia: Latham, Tuqiri, Mortlock, Grey, Rogers, Giteau, Whitaker, Dunning, Paul, Darwin, Harrison, Sharpe, Smith, Croft, Lyons.

Replacements: Burke for Mortlock (49), Turinui for Grey (49), Giffin for Sharpe (40), Cockbain for Smith (40), Roe for Lyons (40).

Not Used: Cannon, Young.

Tries: Latham 5, Lyons, Mortlock, Tuqiri 3, Penalty, Rogers 2, Paul, Giteau 3, Grey, Turinui 2, Burke, Roe.

Cons: Rogers 16.

Namibia: Pedro, Mouton, Grobler, Wessels, Booysen, Schrender, Husselman, Lensing, Van Tonder, du Toit, Senekal, E. Isaacs, Van Rooi, Lintvelt, Van Lill.

Replacements: Grunschloss for Pedro (70), van der Merwe for Mouton (29), P. Isaacs for Grobler (76), Afrika for Booysen (19), Swanepoel for Husselman (49), Blaauw for du Toit (56).

Not Used: Furter.

Att: 33,597

Ref: Joel Jutge (France).