Gregor Paul: Sydney is history, Wellington's a mystery

Australia were fairly awful in that first Bledisloe encounter. They know that. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The hardest thing for players to learn about test rugby is that a top performance one week provides zero guarantees it can be reproduced.

Whatever happened in Sydney has been banked by the All Blacks. That's it. Over. It brought the All Blacks victory on the night but nothing more. All they earned in their opening game will have to be earned again in Wellington.

This is why there can be and often are dramatic changes in fortune from one week to the next.

Australia were fairly awful in that first Bledisloe encounter. They know that. They didn't front with the right attitude. They didn't make strong one-on-one tackles. They didn't get off the line fast and aggressively.

They were owned physically and played on the back foot, behind the gain line, shovelling slow ball with no particular plan in mind.

They lost their confidence and composure at the lineout. They were slow to determine their options and slower again to execute them.

They ran out of ideas about what to do with the ball and, as they unravelled, there was a bit of Sir Isaac Newton's theory to be seen as the All Blacks' excellence proved that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

It was a horrid night for the Wallabies but it would be wrong to take from this that Australia are a broken team. They had a shocker. It happens.

What can equally be true is that, after a team has a night like that, they can respond emphatically.

The All Blacks have been here a few times themselves. In fact, the last two years they have been the ones to come back from Sydney raging about their lack of performance and failure to do what they set out to do.

And in both 2014 and 2015, they delivered huge performances in the return tests in New Zealand. Playing poorly remains rugby's best motivational tool.

There's nowhere to hide and no other means to redress the situation than getting back out and producing the goods on the field. The Wallabies will endure six long days before they get their big shot at redemption and everyone has to understand they are capable of making that same dramatic transition.

It won't even take that much. A better attitude will drive a better defensive effort. A more proactive, belligerent mindset will see them play closer to the gain line " make more of a contest around the collisions.

That's enough in itself to bring them into the game and, if a few passes stick, and they can build their phases more effectively, then the pressure will swing back on to the All Blacks.

It was a big win for the All Blacks in Sydney but it hasn't brought them any silverware or any rights to feel they are a better bet to win this week than they were last.