MELBOURNE: Back-to-back thrashings by New Zealand have triggered alarm bells for the Wallabies' prospects at their home Rugby World Cup and heaped pressure on coach Les Kiss to engineer an immediate rebound on the season-ending tour of Europe.
Kiss banked plenty of goodwill after going unbeaten in his first five tests in charge, and a crowd of 73,000 flocked to Stadium Australia on Saturday hoping for better from the hosts following their 50-19 humiliation away at Eden Park.
However, most left frustrated as the Wallabies crashed to a 43-21 defeat and a 13th straight loss to their trans-Tasman Sea rivals, underscoring the huge gap they have to close before hosting the World Cup next year.
Kiss is the only latest Australia coach to endure an All Blacks whitewash, with the same fate befalling predecessors Joe Schmidt (2024-25), Eddie Jones (2023) and Dave Rennie (2021-22), the current New Zealand boss.
But no Wallabies coach has endured a worse record in a single two-test series against their neighbours, with this year's aggregate losing margin of 53 points eclipsing the previous benchmark of 44 points during the 1996 Tri-Nations under Greg Smith.
With New Zealand locking away the trans-Tasman Bledisloe Cup for a 24th straight year after Eden Park, Australia's standing as World Cup contenders has plummeted.
"The bubble has well and truly burst," rugby journalist Tom Decent wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Depleted in the centres and at flyhalf due to injuries, Australia were not at full strength at Stadium Australia but Rennie was also missing a number of top players including hooker Asafo Aumua and flyhalves Richie Mo'unga and Ruben Love.
Schmidt gave test debuts to more than 20 players in his two-and-a-half years in charge before handing the squad over to Kiss, but the Wallabies remain vulnerable in key positions when injuries strike.
Kiss's squad for the second tranche of Nations Championship matches against England, Scotland and Wales in November will be closely scrutinised when announced this week.
The Wallabies will be relieved to have Len Ikitau return to the midfield for the opening test against England at Twickenham on November 8 and flyhalf Ben Donaldson is expected to be available after recovering from an upper leg injury.
First-choice flyhalf Carter Gordon may have less chance following his broken leg last month, though Kiss was pleased with rookie Declan Meredith's performance at number 10 in Sydney.
"I think that's a really good positive to come out of the game, to see what Declan did," said Kiss.
There could be further reinforcements from overseas-based players who were unavailable for the Bledisloe tests, including loose forward Tom Hooper and prop Taniela Tupou.
Hulking lock Will Skelton will likely be a part of Kiss's World Cup plans but not for the November tests while he recovers from an Achilles injury. --REUTERS
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd