Wallabies ‘gutted’ after yet another Bledisloe Cup belting at the hands of New Zealand

The All Blacks have heaped more misery on the Wallabies with a crushing 43-21 victory in the Bledisloe Cup return bout in Sydney.

As promised after securing the trans-Tasman silverware for a 23rd straight year with a 50-19 shellacking in Auckland, the All Blacks displayed no let-up in another ruthless seven-try rout on Saturday.

The humiliating defeat well and truly marked the end of the honeymoon period for Les Kiss after the new Wallabies coach enjoyed five wins and a draw from his first six Tests in charge this year.

“I’m gutted. When you give a team like All Blacks that a head start, it’s tough and it’s not good enough in this group,” Wallabies captain Harry Wilson said.

“We’ve got to be a lot better. It’s been a very disappointing series, and we’re going to have to regroup.

“We’re going to have to improve a lot because we’ve got a big spring tour ahead and to finish this way, our home Tests, is really disappointing.”

In stark contrast, All Blacks coach Dave Rennie is savouring the sweetest of Bledisloe Cup series successes four years after Rugby Australia fired the New Zealander as Wallabies mentor to usher in a disastrous second Eddie Jones era.

Alarmingly for Kiss and defensive coach Scott McLeod, the Wallabies leaked nine tries and 55 points in 55 minutes from trailing only 17-14 just before halftime at Eden Park until scoring their first five-pointer on at Accor Stadium on Saturday.

The All Blacks’ point-a-minute blitz came despite losing centre Jordie Barrett to a calf injury before kick-off and then centre Quinn Tupaea to concussion in the opening 15 minutes.

The New Zealanders were already missing a host of stars, including inspirational captain Ardie Savea and flyhalves Richie Mo’unga and Ruben Love.

But their absence proved irrelevant as veteran former fullback and former world player of the year Beauden Barrett delivered a signature silky display as the All Blacks stretched their winning streak over the Wallabies to 13 Tests over six years.

Barrett became New Zealand’s greatest-ever try-scorer against Australia with his 47th and 48th strikes in the first half as the All Blacks piled on six tries even before the break to kill off the home hopes.

The Wallabies had started promisingly enough, dominating the opening 10 minutes, with electric winger Max Jorgensen showing a series of great touches.

Jorgensen, though, might regret not offering an inside ball to unmarked fullback Tom Wright instead of going himself, and then rushing out of the defensive line to allow his opposing winger Josh Moorby to stroll over for the first try of the match.