Auckland Blues captain Tom Robinson joins Cheree Kinnear to preview their clash against the Melbourne Rebels along with the weekend's sport. Video / NZ Herald
It was on Thursday at Rugby Australia's headquarters that Wallabies coach Dave Rennie said the opening round of Super Rugby Transtasman would "tell us a little bit".
Unfortunately, all it revealed was how far Australian rugby remains off the pace compared to their New Zealand cousins.
Australia's fears have come to fruition.
The gulf has not shrunk and on the evidence of Friday night's two opening Super Rugby matches, it remains as wide as ever.
After the Reds were given a 40-19 reality check and made to pay for resting players against the Highlanders in Dunedin, the Waratahs continued the bleak start to the five-week crossover tournament as they were beaten 64-48 at the SCG.
"We want to be playing an attacking brand and attack the Kiwi sides. We made it pretty clear that we didn't want to sit there and let them roll the punches on us. In saying that, defence is a real key for us and we really need to improve," Waratahs captain Jake Gordon said.
The result wasn't a surprise.
Both the Reds and Waratahs were beaten convincingly on the opening night of Super Rugby Transtasman. Photos / Getty, Photosport
After all, the Waratahs were paying $501 to win the tournament having failed to beat Australian opposition in eight matches.
The concern is two defeats to New Zealand opposition could blow out to five by Saturday night.
Then the losses start to add up like they did in 2017, when Australian rugby went winless throughout the entire season against New Zealand opposition.
Waratahs and the Reds thinking "Last Try Wins" on their way to their respective hidings (👀) by the 2 weakest teams in Super Rugby Aotearoa😤. Just shows how far behind Australian Rugby actually is 🤦🏾♂️ #SuperRugbyTransTasman
Hurricanes declare at 64 for 48. Ahem... Waratahs will get lapped by the Blues and the Crusaders in the next fortnight. Genuine chance they concede 50 in each of the next two matches. Aotearoa 2 - AU 0 #WARvHUR
A try-fest. Waratahs haven't scored that many in a single game all season! Not enough however, even against the lowest rated team from Aotearoa #WARvHURhttps://t.co/gEwgGUt74i
Rennie said he didn't believe Australian's rugby players had suffered "scarring" from the repeated losses, but he spoke like a man wanting Super Rugby AU to continue beyond 2021 to keep fans this side of the ditch interested.
"I've really enjoyed the first part of the comp and obviously we'll watch with interest and we're going to learn a lot over the next few weeks," he said.
On the field, the Waratahs showed spark in attack, but no rugby side can be successful if they can't defend and as much as their opponents were also guilty of not showing much starch, they did enough to win.
It should be remembered, though, this Hurricanes side, without their champion halves TJ Perenara and Beauden Barrett, finished last in Super Rugby Aotearoa and lost their playmaker Ruben Love after three minutes due to concussion.
In a wild match where it looked at one point like the two teams would break the record for the most points in a match (137 in 2010 as the Chiefs beat the Lions 72-65), the Hurricanes prevailed, scoring 10 tries to seven as 112 points were chalked up to make it the fifth most points in a Super Rugby game.
