By Theo Ruizenaar

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands, Sep 6 (Reuters) The Netherlands washed away the bad taste of their poor weekend performance to convincingly beat Belarus 3-0 in a Euro 2008 Group G qualifying tie oday.

Robin van Persie struck twice and then set up Dirk Kuyt for a third in stoppage time.

Coach Marco van Basten made several changes to the side that laboured to a dismal 1-0 win at Luxembourg on Saturday, with Giovanni van Bronckhorst back in defence after suspension and Wesley Sneijder and Nigel de Jong in midfield.

Inspired by Alexandr Hleb and Maxim Romashchenko, Belarus tested Edwin van der Sar after 11 minutes when Timofei Kalachev's shot was turned over the bar.

Van Persie opened the scoring after 32 minutes when Sneijder's corner kick was cleared to him just inside the penalty area and he hammered the ball into the net.

Van Persie sealed victory with 12 minutes remaining when he received the ball from Sneijder and surprised the Belarus keeper with a well-placed shot.

Kuyt added some gloss when he headed home a free kick by Van Persie.

REUTERS DH PM-0232