The rampant world champions piled on eight tries – including six in the first half alone – in romping to their highest-ever total against Australia.
The contest was over at halftime with the All Blacks leading 40-6 at the break after tryscoring doubles to Reiko Ioane and Ryan Crotty, further five-pointers to Liam Squire and Sonny Bill Williams and five conversions to Beauden Barrett.
The onslaught continued with the All Blacks’ seventh and eighth tries in the opening minutes of the second half as the Wallabies trailed 54-6.
A crowd of just 54,846 fans – the lowest-ever for a Bledisloe battle at ANZ Stadium – were witnessing one of the Wallabies’ lowest-ever performances.
Consolation replies to Curtis Rona on debut, Tevita Kuridrani, Kurtley Beale and Israel Folau flattered the Wallabies, who were outclassed in every facet of play.
Wallabies captain Michael Hooper was proud of his team’s late fightback, but 39 first-half missed tackles proved fatal.
“It’s not the start we’d hoped for in this series and in particular this game,” Hooper said.
All Blacks captain Kieran Read described his side’s sublime first-half attacking blitz as “surreal”.
“It’s nice to play in when it’s coming off like that,” he said.
“We obviously came here to try and play our game and it really came off. All the passes stuck and a pretty awesome first half.
“It showed the quality of the Aussie side in the second half to come back there and perhaps we just took the foot off the throat there.”
If history is any guide, the Bledisloe Cup will remain in New Zealand hands for a 15th straight year with the Wallabies having never won a series after losing the first match at home.
The two sides square off again next Saturday in Dunedin with Michael Cheika’s demoralised troops needing to somehow conjure a first win across the Tasman since 2001 to keep the series alive before game three in Brisbane in October.
Source: All Blacks humble Wallabies again | Perth Now
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