SYDNEY - While Australia has farewelled the Bledisloe Cup, opinion is divided about the Wallabies' chances of retaining the World Cup after they avoided a second thrashing by the All Blacks on Saturday night.
Two major Australian Sunday newspapers took differing slants on the All Blacks victory.
Describing Australia's cupchances as plunging down a "Black Hole", the Sun-Herald fears the Wallabies are "powerless to stop the Kiwi machine".
"The Bledisloe Cup is gone and Australia's hopes of keeping the World Cup are rapidly becoming the impossible dream, as they simply cannot beat the All Blacks," the newspaper's chief rugby correspondent Greg Growden wrote.
"Although Australia's performance was a vast improvement on their Sydney (50-21) thrashing, it still showed they are a team lacking killer combinations. Yet again, Australia's attacking play was too slow and they opted against an expressive backline sweep until the final few minutes."
Growden said a Wallaby win would have been "a serious injustice", as the All Blacks were the far more clever, composed and creative team, and had more penetrative, game-breaking forwards. The Sunday Telegraph took a more optimistic slant although writer Peter Jenkins again queried captain George Gregan's form and a backline kicking game that "would embarrass a schoolboy side".
Jenkins wrote that coach Eddie Jones was entitled to feel relieved after the result.
"If the Bledisloe decider had gone pear-shaped with another thrashing, the coach would have been out on a limb. At least in testing the All Blacks, Jones can march on hoping to squeeze further improvement from his side."
Former Queensland coach John Connolly, in The Sun Herald, said Australians should be prepared not to see the Bledisloe Cup on this side of the Tasman for some time.
"The powerful play of the New Zealanders reminded me of the All Blacks sides of the late 1980s. Australia in response were outknuckled and outplayed."
