Wynne Gray: No excuses for painful failure

Inner venom tells for resurgent Wallabies. File Photo / Getty Images

In theory it was a dead rubber. Try telling that to the All Blacks who have to carry the memory of losing to the Wallabies until they meet next August.

The All Blacks will be annoyed they let slip a 24-12 lead with a quarter of the Hong Kong test to run.

They will be exasperated the 26-24 loss was the first in 22 end-of-year tests, excluding the World Cup, since Graham Henry took charge of the side in 2004.

They will be perplexed at their lack of initial grunt and lack of resistance in the final quarter.

Perhaps three of the Wallabies - Adam Ashley-Cooper, Will Genia and Nathan Sharpe - would push their way into this All Black side, yet they reversed a run of 10 straight defeats.

Even more disturbing, they climbed off the canvas in the final quarter to deal to an All Black side with 756 caps in the starting lineup.

Genia might squeeze past Jimmy Cowan in a composite XV although the Southlander was one of the All Blacks' best in this match. His allround play, fitness, defence and work rate were all at a high level in this match.

Captain Richie McCaw, Jerome Kaino, Kieran Read and Keven Mealamu were other excellent contributors, the rest moderate while Conrad Smith, Stephen Donald and Isaia Toeava dipped in performance.

No excuses.

The All Blacks have been used in the ITM Cup, they gathered last week to prepare for this trip while the Wallabies have been in camp or playing club rugby.

It was a dead rubber and there were some dead bodies and dead minds.

Not sure if it is the start of a Wallaby comeback to rival that of their predecessors in 1990-91. They still have scrum issues and there is a frailty about some of their play.

However, they found some inner venom to claim this reversal.

And when the All Black selectors went to their bench in the 60th minute, the questions started.

You wondered why they chose to replace Carter when he had been playing steadily. Granted it was his first game since his ankle operation but he looked in control, he had not over-extended himself and is one of the twin command posts in the side.

Donald came on and the game went south. Not all his fault by any stretch but his missed penalty kick, strange grubber kicks and inability to find the sideline contributed.

As the All Blacks began to falter, the Wallabies took their cue. Toeava was caught out by the shifty surface and his lack of defensive familiarity on the wing, the Wallabies surged and won.

And they made their mistakes. The erratic Quade Cooper banged several kicks dead or into touch on the full, Berrick Barnes threw a forward pass, and still they won.

They left it late. They won the first and last quarters, the All Blacks the middle two. There was not much in it but the Wallabies did score four tries to three and between them Giteau, Kurtley Beale and O'Connor only goaled three kicks from eight while Carter and Donald succeeded with four from seven.

Former All Black skipper Sean Fitzpatrick believes England and Wales may present the most problems in the Grand Slam quest.

He accepts England did not have great form Downunder midyear but warned they have made changes in mindset, fitness, players and style.

"I think they will be in with a shout, and perhaps Wales at the end," he said.

Fitzpatrick believes the tourists have the playing and coaching resources to rival the All Blacks of the 1996-97 era, if they get in sync on this trip.

That quest needs to ignite this week at Twickenham.