Tale of woe for Aussie rugby media

SYDNEY - It was a gloomy Sunday on Australia's sports pages as their rugby writers lamented the Wallabies' thumping from the All Blacks last night.

"Back to earth with a thud," blared the back page headline in the Sun-Herald above a photo of All Blacks fullback Leon MacDonald leaving Wallaby Nathan Sharpe tumbling in his wake.

"For all the talk of a new era in Australian rugby under coach John Connolly, the Wallabies crashed to earth under the weight of the mighty All Blacks last night," the back page story continued.

"The scoreline was 32-12 but it could have been much worse as the New Zealanders thumped the Wallabies forwards all over Jade Stadium.

"Australia's towering lineout, believed to be superior, also fell in a hole at crucial times and the All Blacks forwards dominated the breakdown all too easily."

Veteran rugby writer Greg Growden, under the headline "Three steps forward and then bashed by All Blacks", slammed the lack of Wallaby grunt up front.

"Apart from a few brief moments, the Wallabies were way off the pace and were badly shown up by the far more composed All Blacks, especially up front, as they suffered an extremely demoralising loss" Growden wrote in the Sun-Herald.

"The Wallabies' scrum was scrambled and fried by their opponents, and their set piece work was appreciably poorer than during their opening three test season triumphs against England and Ireland.

"With the team platform so unsteady and their back row play way below average, Australia could only play fragmented attacking football, and even then they were uninspiring, making numerous blunders -- and not always under pressure."

The Sun-Herald and the Sunday Telegraph both focused on post-match comments on New Zealand television from former Wallabies' captain Nick Farr-Jones saying they were "bashed up front".

"Not just bashed in the scrum either. The New Zealand lineout was fantastic and I think we got beaten up in the back row," Farr-Jones said in the Telegraph under the headline "Our scrum's going backwards".

"There's no doubt if we do the work over the next two to three months we can be a great side again. But at the moment we've been tarnished."

- NZPA