Robbie Deans: 'Who invited these oldies in?'
Australia 34: Tries: R Cross, P Hynes, R Elsom, J Horwill Cons: M Giteau 4 Pens: M Giteau Drops: M Giteau.
New Zealand 19: Tries: M Muliaina, A Hore, A Ellis Cons: D Carter 2.
Graham Henry R.I.P - New Zealanders can only wish. Maybe it's just his comeupence for all the garbage that's filtered its way through the carbon dioxide and oxygen to violate our eyes and ears since the Tri-Nations kicked off.
December 14 2007 - the date when New Zealand rugby fans lost their belief in Santa for Canterbury's favourite son, Robbie Deans, became a Dingo.
Deans reeks so badly of kiwi khai, he practically bathes in the stuff, so copping a mauling off one of their own was worse than a kick in the privates from a loved one.
Back on sunnier Tasman shores, the guy's a saviour. A win next weekend in Auckland and there's a real danger of him nicking the limelight from Kylie, Dame Edna or Russell Crowe.
Saturday's thumping hurt the religous ruggerholics in the Land of the Long White Cloud so much, New Zealand's flagship rugby website Rugby Heaven changed its name to Rugby Hell in mourning.
The Wallabies bonus-point win sends them a point clear at the top of the ladder with a game in hand and with it confidence in the new regime remains unflappable.
Dan Carter might be the best in the business, but even his genius can only stretch so far.
Neither camp was fully satisfied. Andy Ellis magical reappearance following Jimmy Cowan's brief cameo proved there a still a few glitches in the new system, vindicating the northern hemisphere's reservations to jump aboard.
Had it been more telling then Mr. Deans might not have been so chipper.
Deans' tactical shrewdness and attitude had been championed by both sets of players in the build-up and Henry switching his only recognised flanker, Daniel Braid for a moose with the handling skills of a seal, illustrated the main reason for supporters vote of nil confidence in the NZRU - Sione Lauaki was a disaster.
Henry looked liked he'd been at stand-still on the M25 for five hours upon the final whistle.
The desperate hauling down of Sitiveni Sivavatu only five metres out with try-line begging should've yielded seven points as well as a sin-binning.
They were two major turning points.
You could only marvel at the pace and ambition of the warriors. How both sets of rampaging animals kept going at such high intensity only the fitness gods could prove.
Out of the four contests in this year's Tri-Nations, this was by far the best.
More tries than penalties (7-6) represents great value for money for both the consumer and charming fan - it was certainly a triumph for attack over defence, which is what the IRB are trying to ram down our throats after all.
The Wallabies bossed the breakdown, enabling junior stars such as Luke Burgess to fidget around the fringes while the beach blondies, Matt Giteau and Berrick Barnes kicked intelligently and stood up well against the bigger bruisers.
The highlight of this fascinating encounter was the battle for supremacy between both back-three's.
Sivivatu was more Serevi than Lomu, Lote Tuqiri showing us he's been watching Brian Lima YouTube clips such was the ferocity of his tackling and Adam Ashley-Cooper showed tremendous courage and guile to steal in through various keyholes in the New Zealand defensive line.
If it lasted another 20 minutes, Australia would've doubled their score. New Zealand look very fragile without their talisman, Richie McCaw. Rather than raising the bar in training, all of their assets should go into getting the machine fit - the All-Blacks are out of gas.