NFL-Rams blunder Down Under as 49ers win landmark Australia game

(Changes to 'Sean' in 9th paragraph)

By Ian Ransom

MELBOURNE, Sept 11 : Brock Purdy threw for 205 yards and three touchdowns as the San Francisco 49ers opened their season with an emphatic 27-7 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Friday in the NFL's first regular-season game in Australia.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, the reigning NFL MVP, had no touchdowns and was pulled late in the fourth quarter, the Super Bowl favourites outclassed by their division rivals in front of a massive crowd of 100,021 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. 

The attendance on a local workday - the morning kick-off suiting a U.S. prime-time audience - was the seventh largest for a regular-season NFL game, and second only to the 49ers-Cardinals match-up at Mexico City's Azteca in 2005 (103,467) among international games.

"What an atmosphere to get a win in," said 49ers tight end George Kittle. "The boys played well. The juice was there all day, and I mean, anytime you get a win versus division opponent is always a great thing. 

"And anytime you beat the Rams, it's a great thing."

The 49ers had landed in Melbourne a week before the game to overcome jet lag and adjust for the time-zone difference with the U.S. West Coast.

And their players were cheered warmly as they ran out onto the sprawling, oval-shaped playing field having endeared themselves to locals with their high praise for Melbourne's coffee and food scene.

There were loud boos for the Rams, though, who arrived only the day before the game and stuck to their normal U.S. routines, and that strategy may come under the microscope after they were dominated for much of the game.

Rams coach Sean McVay defended their preparations, saying his team fell short in multiple departments.

"Today was humbling but