KEY POINTS:
The All Blacks remain the World Cup favourites but have yielded important psychological advantages to another rival for that crown.
The Wallabies exorcised three years of mental anguish with their 20-15 Bledisloe Cup win on Saturday, they erased swelling doubts about their selections and ability to cope at
the very highest level.
With that precious first transtasman victory in six attempts dating back to 2004, the Wallabies were still able to claim the underdog label for future meetings. The All Blacks tried something similar but they were not as convincing.
Yes it was a reality check, as they suggested, and that investigation will reveal a bulky register of errors. Alarming mistakes really for a side which emphasises excellence and has placed every possible resource towards the World Cup, alarming when that repeat uncertainty, misjudgment and faults could have produced a quarter-final exit.
It has perhaps eased the pressure valve of public expectation but the NZRU and All Blacks have made fanatical statements that this season is all about the World Cup.
Travelling back from South Africa after a test and then playing another inside a week is a demanding assignment. And for hunks of Saturday's test, the All Blacks appeared to be in a dreamy zone. They began furiously but tapered off. Their concentration went, they lacked their regular sting and the Wallabies gained their valuable result.
They know they can still beat the All Blacks, they have revived all the warm fuzzy feelings about the 2003 RWC semifinal, they will comfort themselves in the belief that they can outsmart the All Blacks.
Enter John Connolly and Stirling Mortlock and soothing words about the All Blacks' continued global pre-eminence with just a tad of poison dripping from their flattery.
"We respect the All Blacks but we know them well; we play them so much in the Super 14 whereas the Northern Hemisphere sides are not so used to them," Connolly said.
His coaching opposite, Graham Henry, agreed the Wallabies were the better side, they deserved to win and he suggested New Zealanders might find that hard to handle.
Not at all. Not having seen any number of classy Wallaby sides.
But it was disconcerting to see the All Blacks' soft centre, in more ways than one, exposed again.
Captain Richie McCaw continues to play remarkable rugby, he is a remarkable rugby talent. So is backline champion Daniel Carter, but he is in modest form right now.
But assistant coach Wayne Smith rated Carter's work on Saturday as better than the week before in Durban. The five-eighths did make a break or two, he held his inside channel defence together but his tactical kicking game was either average or non-existent. On the slippery surface the All Blacks were reluctant to kick for territory, they kept the ball and consequently made handling and turnover mistakes.
Who was playing with their head up, who was helping Carter, or was it a deliberate no-kick policy, no matter the conditions? Maybe they wanted to keep Julian Huxley and Adam Ashley-Cooper in the Wallabies? New Tui ad.
Severe? Beyond repair? Of course not but slightly bewildering with just two tests before the All Blacks are cotton-woolled again.
Subbing Rodney So'oialo and Joe Rokocoko off with just minutes left gave Chris Masoe and Sitiveni Sivivatu no chance to make an impact.
The strategy to replace Anton Oliver, Tony Woodcock and Byron Kelleher soon after the break was logical but to replace others so late did not make sense. Fresh legs could have helped the defence more during Carl Hayman's time in the sinbin.
Leon MacDonald's late injury exit tested the back-up ideas and theories. The panel made three positional switches rather than picking Nick Evans at fullback. It signalled discomfort and that was the result.
Oliver had one lineout throw picked off and another ruled not straight, Keven Mealamu had two crooked throws and another filched, ratios the Wallabies mirrored so there was little difference there, while Marius Jonkers' your-penalty, their-penalty routine at the scrums did not allow that phase to gain any traction.
An untidy night? No question of that especially as the tram queues stretched all the way around the MCG after the test as the showers continued.
