Aussies mournful yet again

Australian newspapers are mourning another loss to the All Blacks after the Wallabies' weekend defeat.

"Black magic ends Wallabies' hopes," headlined the Sun-Herald newspaper after the 34-27 New Zealand victory, with writer Greg Growden saying the Australians "again succumbed to the might of the All Blacks juggernaut".

"Australia's disgraceful record away from home - which includes not winning at Eden Park for 20 years - continued, enabling the All Blacks to show off the Southern Hemisphere silverware to the capacity crowd."

Growden said the Wallabies "irritated" for a long period of the game, but failed in the final minutes to score the try which would have ended New Zealand's long stretch of transtasman dominance on their own soil.

He said Australia were given a "leg-up" through several contentious refereeing decisions and were lucky not to have winger Lote Tuqiri either yellow- or red-carded for a dangerous tackle on All Blacks captain Richie McCaw.

"But their performance, full of passion, enthusiasm and speed, was a vast improvement on recent efforts."

- NZPA