Honeymoon over for Wallabies coach Kiss after another bout of 'Bledis-woe'

MELBOURNE, Oct 19 : 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. 

But no Wallabies coach has endured a worse record in a single two-test series against their neighbours, with this year's aggregate losing margin of 53 points eclipsing the previous benchmark of 44 points during the 1996 Tri-Nations under Greg Smith.

With New Zealand locking away the trans-Tasman Bledisloe Cup for a 24th straight year after Eden Park, Australia's standing as World Cup contenders has plummeted.

"The bubble has well and truly burst," rugby journalist Tom Decent wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Depleted in the centres and at flyhalf due to injuries, Australia were not at full strength at Stadium Australia but Rennie was also missing a number of top players including hooker Asafo Aumua and flyhalves Richie Mo'unga and Ruben Love.

Schmidt gave test debuts to more than 20 players in his two-and-a-half years in