Wallabies captain James Horwill has lamented his side's sloppy handling after going down 41-33 against a merciless All Blacks side in the third Bledisloe Cup Test in Dunedin.
The loss means the All Blacks have clean swept the series 3-0, putting the icing on the cake of their 11th straight Cup win.
And while it may have been a dead rubber, both teams showed moments of brilliance in the free-flowing seven-try Test in front of a near-sellout crowd of 28,973 at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
Unfortunately for the Wallabies, costly handling errors and some sloppy breakdown work meant those moments were just too few and far between.
"The turnover rate was too high," Wallabies captain James Horwill said post match.
Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie said his side improved on their previous two Tests against the world champions and were starting to express themselves.
"We're getting some incremental improvement but obviously until you win these games you're never going to be happy," he said.
The game looked dead and buried as early as the 47th minute with the All Blacks up 33-19 and attacking a broken Wallabies line.
But an intercept to Tevita Kuridrani, who put over inside centre Matt Toomua, narrowed the gap to seven.
The fightback didn't last, All Blacks captain Kieran Read crossing in the 53rd minute after a superb team build up that epitomised their four tries.
Read said he felt his side always had the game under control.
"The way they (Wallabies) got in the game in that first half was through our ill-discipline," he said.
"We felt that every time we got down their end we were getting some points so it was about building momentum."
The Wallabies weren't without their chances though.
Six times in the opening 30 minutes the visitors carelessly gave away possession whilst attacking near the 22 metre line - two of which uncharacteristically by halfback Will Genia, who was celebrating his 50th Test.
"It doesn't really matter who turns it over, the fact is that the team's doing it and letting the pressure off," Horwill said.
"In the end we let them off the hook."
It was a stark contrast to their hosts, with the All Blacks running in all three of their first half tries from outside the Wallabies' 22 metre line through expansive, attacking rugby.
It took until the stroke of halftime for the Wallabies to follow suit - inside centre Matt Toomua making a clean break before five-eighth Quade Cooper lobbed a cut-out ball to winger Adam Ashley-Cooper to narrow the score to 30-19.
Until then the Wallabies had relied on the boot of Cooper, the pivot kicking 12 points in the first half to finish the night with 18 points and a 100 per cent accuracy rate.
All Blacks fullback Israel Dagg looked dangerous every touch, while flyhalf Aaron Cruden (23 points) not only backed up to score the third try of the match, but delivered a pinpoint cross field kick to winger Julian Savea, who handed flanker Sam Cane his 30th minute try.
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