MELBOURNE: Back-to-back thrashings by New Zealand have triggered alarm bells for the Wallabies' prospects at their home Rugby World Cup and heaped pressure on coach Les Kiss to engineer an immediate rebound on the season-ending tour of Europe.
Kiss banked plenty of goodwill after going unbeaten in his first five tests in charge, and a crowd of 73,000 flocked to Stadium Australia on Saturday hoping for better from the hosts following their 50-19 humiliation away at Eden Park.
However, most left frustrated as the Wallabies crashed to a 43-21 defeat and a 13th straight loss to their trans-Tasman Sea rivals, underscoring the huge gap they have to close before hosting the World Cup next year.
Kiss is the only latest Australia coach to endure an All Blacks whitewash, with the same fate befalling predecessors Joe Schmidt (2024-25), Eddie Jones (2023) and Dave Rennie (2021-22), the current New Zealand boss.
