All Blacks humble Wallabies again

The All Blacks have once again displayed the gulf in class between New Zealand and Australian rugby with a record-setting 54-34 Bledisloe Cup win in Sydney.

Michael Hooper of Australia reacts during game 1

Australia have been flogged 54-34 by the All Blacks at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. (AAP)

Michael Cheika condemned the Wallabies' diabolical defence after the All Blacks opened the Rugby Championship with a record-setting 54-34 rout in Sydney.

The rampant world champions piled on eight tries - including six in the first half alone - in romping to their highest-ever total against Australia.

The contest was over at halftime with the All Blacks leading 40-6 at the break after tryscoring doubles to Reiko Ioane and Ryan Crotty, further five-pointers to Liam Squire and Sonny Bill Williams and five conversions to Beauden Barrett.

The onslaught continued with the All Blacks' seventh and eighth tries in the opening minutes of the second half as the Wallabies trailed 54-6.

A crowd of just 54,846 fans - the lowest-ever for a Bledisloe battle at ANZ Stadium - were witnessing one of the Wallabies' lowest-ever performances. A staggering 39 missed tackles in the first 40 minutes told the sorry story.

"It was pretty plain to see that our defence wasn't good enough, at all," Cheika said.

"The adherence to the way we want to defend plus also the tackling in itself, it's got to be better.

"That first part of the game was not the level that you can be at - not in any game, let alone against them."

Consolation replies to Curtis Rona on debut, Tevita Kuridrani, Kurtley Beale and Israel Folau flattered the Wallabies, who were outclassed in every facet of play.

Wallabies captain Michael Hooper was proud of his team's late fightback, but also lamented the dreadful first half.

"It's not the start we'd hoped for in this series and in particular this game," Hooper said.

All Blacks captain Kieran Read described his side's first-half attacking blitz as "surreal".

"It's nice to play in when it's coming off like that," he said.

"We obviously came here to try and play our game and it really came off. All the passes stuck and a pretty awesome first half.

"It showed the quality of the Aussie side in the second half to come back there and perhaps we just took the foot off the throat there."

If history is any guide, the Bledisloe Cup will remain in New Zealand hands for a 15th straight year with the Wallabies having never won a series after losing the first match at home.

The two sides square off again next Saturday in Dunedin with Michael Cheika's demoralised troops needing to somehow conjure a first win across the Tasman since 2001 to keep the series alive before game three in Brisbane in October.


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Source: AAP


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