Wallabies suffer 40-14 Bledisloe Cup humiliation by All Blacks at Eden Park

MAULING: Caleb Clarke of the All Blacks in action during The Rugby Championship. (Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)

Former Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom wryly observed before a 2011 Test at Eden Park that he had “never met any ghosts out there”, but there has certainly been a graveyard these past 36 years, and it now has a new headstone.

While a try in the final moment by Jordan Petaia helped spare the Wallabies the possibility of a record defeat at the Auckland ground, it was scant consolation for another ill-disciplined performance which reflected a side sorely lacking in composure and leadership.