The honeymoon is over for Les Kiss and Doomsday protocols have been activated. Australia’s embarrassing capitulation to the All Blacks – their 13th in a row – is a cold reminder of where the Wallabies sit in rugby’s world order. In a year these teams meet in Sydney again at a World Cup. But the gulf between them remains massive.

The Kiss Army’s defeat of world No 1 South Africa last month filled the golden sails with wind and left the Wallabies unbeaten after six Tests. Last week at Eden Park they at least held the All Blacks to parity at half-time before giving up 26 unanswered points. But this was an understrength All Blacks and the men in gold still got monstered.

The sun was shining and the stadium was heaving after Australia’s Sevens men held Fiji to a 19-all draw and the Wallaroos rattled up their biggest win against Scotland. But the headline act tanked hard. Again the Wallabies were their own worst enemies. Two kickoffs out on the full and a spluttering attack that botched four final-pass options in the first 10 minutes, playing too cute when they needed composure.

As in the last Bledisloe Test here in 2024, Australia had badly bungled the first act. Back then, it was 21-zip after 15 minutes before the Wallabies got on the scoreboard. Here it was 22-0 in almost as many minutes before the home side found a response. If Damian Mckenzie had not shanked three of four conversions it would have been worse.

Kiss was shell-shocked. “It was damage that’s for sure,” he said of a dire first half. “None of us accept 22-0. Those line breaks we offered, those missed tackles. The All Blacks are so clinical and they knock you off. A lot of young guys learned a lot but as a team there’s got to be more thinking about what it really means to turn up.”

Instead they tuned out. At half-time, New Zealand led by six tries to one and 18 line breaks to one. The Wallabies had missed 21 tackles to their rivals’ single miss and conceded eight turnovers to two. Diabolical stats. Nor was this a full strength enemy, with the stars Ardie Savea, Ruben Love, Richie Mo’unga and Jordie Barrett all MIA.

When the All Blacks scored again early in the second stanza, the 7-43 score mirrored the Wallabies’ 5-43 worst loss in 2020. But this was worse. That was a full-time score after being 0-26 halfway with 35 long minutes still to play. It put extra gristle in the half-time pies. Kiss emptied his bench and fired up the defibrillator.

The Wallabies lifted in the second half but the Bledisloe Cup was gone and the Test lost. The crowd knew it, firing up a Mexican wave on the hour mark and leaving in droves before the finish, an ugly look at the nation’s biggest rugby stadium, an arena that will host a home World Cup at which Australia must perform or perish as a rugby power.

Even an all-black cloud carries a few silver linings. The rookie fly half Declan Meredith did some good in attack and went within a whisker of scoring two wonderful tries. Max Jorgensen missed plenty of tackles but was relentlessly inventive on his wing. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii ran hard and the captain, Harry Wilson, brought fire and thunder.

But that would be polishing a turd. This was a dark day for Australian rugby. In the Rugby League World Cup opener on Thursday, Kalyn Ponga and Reece Walsh had played out an epic TransTasman duel, executing incredible skills at warp speed to get Australia home. Despite the second-best side on the day, they had found a way.

Wilson often talks of post-loss “learnings” but he cut a dejected figure afterwards. “I’m gutted,” the captain said. “It’s not good enough. We’ve got to be a lot better. It’s been a very disappointing series. We’re going to have to regroup and improve a lot because we’ve got a big spring tour ahead. Not the way we wanted to finish the year.”

Down but not out the Wallabies now march north to Twickenham for a face-off with England on 8 November before playing Scotland and Wales in subsequent weeks. They must win all three with bonus points and hope the Springboks and All Blacks drop their bundles if they are to crack Nations Championships finals on 27 November.

The New Zealand coach, Dave Rennie, spoke of “winning races”, “brutality at the cleanout” and “clinical decision making”. Kiss must find such missing links. After his cricketers crushed South Africa, Pat Cummins had spoken of another way: “Grind it out, wait for the game to come to you.” Will Kiss’s side maintain the rage or go into their shell?