The All Blacks were perhaps spurred on by the discovery of a listening device this week in a Sydney hotel room where a New Zealand team meeting was held.
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Successive injuries to Matt Giteau, Matt Toomua and Rob Horne, had put Australia in a position where substitute scrum-half Nick Phipps was forced to line up on the wing as the Wallabies had used all of their backline substitutions inside the opening forty minutes. He scored a try in the second half but they conceded two more.
The Wallabies somehow avoided the concession of another try until the 27th minute, but Beauden Barrett’s five-pointer set the tone for a blistering finish to the first 40 in which Waisake Naholo and Jerome Kaino also crossed.
Man of the match Beauden Barrett scored a try, set up two others and kicked 12 points in their first meeting since the Rugby World Cup final a year ago.
The scale of the defeat provoked a furious reaction from former Australia captain and World Cup victor Michael Lynagh. “When players run at you you’ve got to tackle them and that’s the nature of the game”.
“We are on the slide”.
The injuries couldn’t obscure a particularly poor performance by the Wallabies – which had recalled several overseas-based stars for the Rugby Championship – as it gifted away possession to the All Blacks regularly, kicked poorly and missed several tackles in defence. “It’s a crisis, and this is a team with 13 of the 15 who started the World Cup final”. As for the Australian fans, a Bronx cheer for a lineout win told the story; though they did enjoy a genuine smile when All Blacks skipper Kieran Read was sin-binned late on. “It’s got nothing to do with us”, Cheika said.
Simply, the Australians had no answer to New Zealand’s mix of speed, skill and strength.
They might be best doing “a Ryan Lochte” and skipping town before the sun comes up. “You’ve got to deal with it and it’s not in your control”, said Hansen.
Australia attempted a rally in the second half but a mistake from centre Tevita Kuridrani allowed New Zealand prop Dan Coles to score the visitors’ fifth try.
Wallabies captain Stephen Moore said the side would need to be “honest” in their dissection of the defeat.
“It wasn’t good enough from us and we’re really disappointed”.
“But we don’t think it’s a catastrophic issue for the game tonight. We are going to focus on a game of rugby that we’ve got tonight and we will deal with this matter after the rugby”.
What Moore neglected to mention was next Saturday’s opponents are again the All Blacks and the match is taking place at Wellington in New Zealand.
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Whether it’s been Eddie Jones, John Connolly, Robbie Deans, Ewen McKenzie or Cheika, Australia are constantly looking to re-assert themselves as world rugby’s number one side only to fall short when the stakes are highest.
