KEY POINTS:
The axe should fall on Graham Henry's already-toppling rugby regime but even that won't save these All Blacks, who fell in embarrassing defeat at Sydney on Saturday night.
The rot is well set and the coaching cupboard bare, willingly emptied of its prized contents by those charged with
filling it.
Matt Giteau epitomised the mantra of Australian rugby, as he played the role of a little David and rose from the Sydney turf to help dissect poor old Goliath. And giant All Black lock Brad Thorn's swishing arm in the Bledisloe test - his second act of expensive thuggery within a few weeks - reflected the state of transtasman rugby.
The dark brooding force that used to produce triumphant All Black rugby continues to swing wildly, while the clever Australians refuse to stay down and keep re-emerging on the back of their classy ways.
This ordinary Australian team, with a truly great openside in George Smith, won well and going away.
It was an often exhilarating but messy test, open and energetic, full of incident and tension. Something outrageous was always in the wind, and the yo-yo substitutions involving halfbacks Andy Ellis and Jimmy Cowan further eroded the All Black's reputation, painting them as arrogant desperadoes who believe they have a status that puts them above the rules for others.
This was a new nadir for the All Blacks. The decaying monolith was toppled by a medium-weight Aussie hammer and without a young English referee to carry the blame.
The days of great New Zealand rugby are well and truly over, hauled down by an arrogant administration who believe they are good enough to take to the world stage with befuddled coaches and without the option of choosing leading players who make their living overseas.
The Henry regime has lost three of its last four significant games to average opponents in surrendering a World Cup final place that was there for the taking, losing a proud home record to the Springboks, then going even further backwards against Robbie Deans' shoestring Wallabies.
The gifting of Deans to Australia is the most infamous blunder in our sporting history, and the attendant insult paid to Warren Gatland - the other serious alternative - who was blocked at the Chiefs is almost as bad.
The rabble that capitulated to the Wallabies reflects a sport that is flabby and obsequious, lacking cunning and desperation.
Its response is to sometimes fiddle with the rule book, and as Ellis and Cowan played tag team on Saturday night, you momentarily remembered that the golden boy Dan Carter has been given a dispensation to flit between his reduced obligations in New Zealand and European riches.
Richie McCaw's fearless skill has covered up the ills until now.
The mad theories and never-ending selection changes, still going on in places such as the three-quarters, are robbing the All Blacks of cohesion and battle hardness. Henry, Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith have abdicated their responsibilities as selectors, and turned the process of picking a national team into their own Idol gameshow contest. Nothing summed up the demise of the warrior spirit more than the sight of Sione Lauaki bumbling his way through what should be his last test match.
Earlier this year, a creaking NZRU board failed to sense a pivotal moment in history, lumbering New Zealand rugby with a limping horse that must keep battling on until it goes completely lame. How could the New Zealand Rugby Union have ignored Deans, even given their determination to right the sinking Henry ship to save their own CVs? Surely common sense would have even managed to get the better of these dunderheads. They should have realised it was time for a new energy.
Hansen, with no outstanding record, has been positioned to take over by the cabal, the obvious question being how on Earth the NZRU justifies deciding he is a better coach than Deans. Long-range coaching succession plans are highly dubious in the first place, and even more so where there is hardly much success in the first place.
The Deans snubbing, following the failed World Cup tactics, was outrageous mismanagement and the heads of those who orchestrated it should lie on a plate next to that of the failed All Black coach.
Not that it will happen.
Sydney was such an Aussie triumph and All Black disaster that it has proved already that the Deans supporters were absolutely right, no matter what happens from here on in.
And before anyone mentions the overseas player drain, think on the situation in Australia where many of the best footballers are with league and Aussie rules.
Just imagine the power of Australian rugby if the majority of NRL players were in union.
Australian rugby, which survives on its wits, had no right to taste victory like the one we witnessed on Saturday night. Deans has given it purpose and direction, and quickly guided a rookie side to smash the All Blacks.
The ageing Henry's record is one of impressing those in powerful places and making fast starts and famous slides. It happened with Wales, the British Lions and now the All Blacks.
Deans, meanwhile, is a man on top of his game with a history of creating a resilient dynasty. Quite an easy choice, all in all.
John O'Neill, the clever impresario of Australian rugby, will be smiling broadly at his safe bet. And so will those who already knew he had been handed a winning ticket.
