Five takeaways from the All Blacks' Bledisloe Cup win over the Wallabies

Caleb Clarke bumps off Wallabies centre Hunter Paisami at Eden Park. Photosport

OPINION:

Five takeaways from the All Blacks' 27-7 victory over the Wallabies in the second Bledisloe Cup test at Eden Park.

1. Caleb Clarke's breakout

Let the Caleb Clarke hype begin. Jonah Lomu comparisons shouldn't be thrown around lightly and the good thing is we rarely get to. When do you see a young winger bump off defenders with such ease?

Going into yesterday's test the list probably started and ended with Julian Savea. But Clarke certainly has that X-factor as he proved to be a real handful for the Wallabies. The question of whether he has the all-round game at test level remains as the Wallabies failed to test him under the high ball inside his own half - with one feeble attempt leading to the Ardie Savea try - and he wasn't asked to make too many big tackles. But we certainly now know of his offensive abilities.

2. Bounce backs

No doubt it was a much better performance from the All Blacks after a tepid start to the season in Wellington. The question is whether they need a poor outing first to spur a display like that. The All Blacks pride themselves on chasing excellence and producing a consistent high-quality effort every week. Ian Foster won't be interested in any more bounce backs this season because that means they will have lost to either Australia or Argentina.

3. Wallabies went missing

Dave Rennie's side clearly regressed. They were able to hang in there for the first half but their lack of depth began to show after the break. They missed 40 tackles — though it should be noted 12 of those were failed attempts to bring down Clarke — and they gave up the ball at the breakdown way too easily. Michael Hooper is just one man and can't be at every breakdown. Pete Samu was axed for this test after he failed to be effective at the breakdown the previous week but the problem wasn't fixed by the addition of Ned Hanigan and the move of Harry Wilson to the back of the pack. It's a pretty big issue for Rennie to sort out.

4. 34 more years?

The hoodoo is real. Australia tried to talk down the Eden Park factor before the test but you can't deny it — the Wallabies lifted some kind of evil spirit when they captured the Bledisloe Cup in 1986.

5. A game without controversy

Last weekend we had a missed foot in touch, a botched try and the good old drop goal debate. But it turns out you can have a Bledisloe Cup test without controversy. There was a TMO call on a double movement that even the most one-eyed Wallabies fan couldn't argue. That was about it. Even having an Aussie ref in charge didn't seem to matter.