The St Louis Rams have secured a 27-6 win over NFC West rivals the San Francisco 49ers with Tavon Austin scoring two touchdowns for the home side.

The 49ers opened the scoring on the first possession of the game, with Vance McDonald and Torrey Smith both making catches to get Phil Dawson into field goal range.

The Rams could not respond on their first drive, but they forced a safety when San Francisco running back Mike Davis was tackled in the endzone.

St Louis took the lead early in the second quarter with the first touchdown of the game as Todd Gurley dodged a couple of tackles to sprint for the line from 71 yards out.

Both teams added another field goal, before Austin extended the Rams' lead just before half time, stretching for the pylon for a two-yard touchdown.

Both sides' offenses struggled to get going in the second half, with a string of punts coming at the start of the third quarter, before Greg Zuerlein had a 40-yard field goal attempt blocked.

The 49ers were forced to punt twice more as Kaepernick continued to struggle to find his receivers, but Nick Foles had no problems picking out Austin for a second time, leaving the receiver to run after the catch for a 66-yard score.

Kaepernick tried to find Smith again in the fourth quarter to try to get the visitors back into the contest, but the Rams were able to stop the 49ers on fourth down, allowing them to see out the victory.

The result leaves the 49ers bottom in the NFC West with a 2-6 record, while the Rams sit second in the division with four wins from their opening seven games.