Saturday 20 August 2016 14:51, UK
World champions New Zealand humiliated Australia 42-8 to open the Rugby Championship on Saturday and extend the All Blacks' recent dominance over its Bledisloe Cup rival.
New Zealand scored six tries as it dismantled the Wallabies with man of the match Beauden Barrett scoring a try, setting up two others and kicking 12 points to lead the All Blacks to a comfortable victory in its first meeting against Australia since the Rugby World Cup final last year.
Former All Blacks skipper Sean Fitzpatrick was delighted with the win and said it was the best he has seen New Zealand play for a long time.
"I don't think many teams would have lived with the All Blacks today," said Fitzpatrick on Sky Sports.
"It is the best I have seen them play for a long time. One to 23 contributed - they put pressure on one another. They all came on and added something. Steve Hansen and his selectors will be very happy. There was a lot of hard work done that has paid off."
Not good enough
Wallaby skipper Stephen Moore was stunned with the result and said their performance was just not good enough: "I don't know what to say. I feel for all our fans who came out tonight. it was not good enough from us and we are really disappointed.
"I thought we clawed our way back in the second half but they had too big a lead. We prepared well and trained really hard in the last three weeks and we thought we were ready to play well tonight.
"We are not going to give up - we have another game next week and we will keep pushing and get ready for next week. As hard as this is, we have another game next week and need to turn it around."
Stop playing games
Sky Sports rugby pundit and Wallaby legend Michael Lynagh agreed with Moore and said the Wallabies' basic skills were just not good enough.
"I don't know where to start. The Wallabies missed 30 tackles and that was still with eight minutes to go. Their line out was a shambles, their tactical kicking was poor.
"That is now five games in a row that the Wallabies have lost and that is a bit of a crisis. Australia were never at the races and if it was not for Pocock and Hooper out there then the All Blacks would have won by a lot more."
Lynagh also said that Wallaby coach Michael Cheika must stop playing games off the field and focus on getting his players back on track.
"Perhaps Michael Cheika should stop playing some games like naming Ben McCalman at six and then playing him at No 8," added Lynagh.
"Forget all those mind games off the field and concentrate on playing the game properly. Getting the basics right, making your tackles and getting your line out sorted. Discipline comes from within the team. I am sure they will start to concentrate on all that
