The Les Kiss bubble has finally burst, and the Wallabies have fallen straight back to earth with a resounding thud after collapsing to an abysmal 50-19 loss to continue their 40-year winless run at Eden Park, and extend their losing streak to New Zealand to 12, while the All Blacks ensured the Bledisloe Cup remains locked up in the cabinet for a 24th consecutive year.
By the 55th minute it all felt inevitable. All Blacks captain Codie Taylor crashed over for New Zealand's fourth try of seven, the Wallabies' defensive line sliced and diced and the scoreline pushed well out of reach. But for a few shining moments in the first half hope was still alive.
After building a six-straight unbeaten run -- five under Kiss -- the Wallabies entered Eden Park confident they had the ability to put to bed the All Blacks' incredible undefeated run and they couldn't have produced a more brilliant start.
Despite some early miscues, the Wallabies silenced the 'blacked out' stands, maintaining possession early and thumping into the defence before their dominance was finally rewarded through a slick Tom Wright try in the eighth minute.
Securing the ball off the back of the lineout, Ryan Lonergan spread it to Len Ikitau who ripped an out-the-back pass to Donaldson who tipped on to a flying Max Jorgensen on the angle. Slicing through the gap and racing through the centre of the pitch, he quickly sent it to Wright, who made no mistakes selling the dummy and racing through untouched. It was magnificent in its simplicity.
But cracks soon came to light. An errant kick into touch from Donaldson off the back of a midfield scrum -- thanks to an unlikely poor restart from the All Blacks -- squandered an early attacking opportunity. Minutes later, after picking off the first of several New Zealand lineouts for the night, they'd do nothing with the possession and hand it straight back, before Damian McKenzie and Jordie Barrett would demonstrate their own attacking brilliance setting up Peter Lakai to level the scores.
With their first real taste of possession the All Blacks were over the line. Their ball carries were powerful, bending the line and making post-contact metres with ease, while they dominated the breakdown and split the defence.
For perhaps the first time under Kiss Australia's defensive set-up looked busted. They were misaligned, players biting in when they shouldn't, while spacing was shot, opening the door for McKenzie and Beauden Barrett to exploit with Tupou Va'ii scoring New Zealand's second within four minutes.
Dave Rennie's game plan was clear. Keep the ball alive, put it to the air and test the edges, rumble through the middle and tire the Wallabies out. It worked while the pressure was clearly starting to eat at the Wallabies with Lonergan failing to convert a penalty bang in front midway through the half.
"They play a lot of ball and play," Wallabies captain Harry Wilson told Stan Sport post-match. "From side to side, they put a lot of fatigue in the game. When they've got the ball and they're not giving it to you, not putting in any errors, they're very tough.
"The aerial battle, they were unbelievable in that. They put us under a bit of pressure there. They had a really good plan and they got the ball back."
Miraculously, Australia remained in the contest. Jeremy Williams a standout in the opening quarter, made two lineout steals, secured two of his own, while earning a huge breakdown penalty to keep Australia in the match, before Donaldson set up a Wilson try on the cusp of halftime.
Struggling to break the All Blacks' line after multiple phases, a half break from Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii splintered the defence, before Wilson floated a lovely pass to Donaldson who straightened up late and hit the gap midfield to explode into the 22. With Wilson following closely on his hip, the fly-half sent the offload, and the captain went under the posts and closed the cap 17-14 just minutes before the break.
There were positives as they entered the sheds with their set piece remaining solid while Jorgensen and Wright looked threatening with ball in hand, but there also remained several weaknesses. Their defensive frailties had come to light, with 16 missed tackles, while Donaldson was struggling to take charge of the game, which was hardly helped with a forward pack failing to get front foot ball, and the All Blacks had the better of the aerial battle. But a slender deficit still seemed like something they could overcome.
Until the errors compounded and the game simply blew out.
It would take two crucial penalties in the opening three minutes of the second half to all but sew up the result with a lineout error the clear turning point in the clash.
With some incredible footwork from Jorgensen and a deft kick ahead from Wright the Wallabies had the All Blacks pinned inside their redzone immediately off the restart. But with the pressure mounting on New Zealand a Lukhan Salakaia-Loto penalty at the ruck and another to Williams for backchat squandered all the hard work. First opportunity lost.
They'd get another chance inside the All Blacks' redzone just minutes later with Donaldson producing an impressive heads-up play midfield to spot the space in the back and send a kick into the back right corner forcing a scrambling Barrett to clean the mess and take the ball into touch. Five metres from the line and in the perfect attacking position, the Wallabies would be penalised once again, this time for obstruction at the lineout. Another opportunity missed and what seemed to spell game over for Australia.
"The second half they dominated, didn't they?" Kiss told Stan Sport after the match. "We did the work in the first half. They had a great purple patch on top of us, but we came back with that try, put it into a position where we could possibly come out and do some damage.
"I thought we started well, then we gave a penalty away. The next time we get up there, we lose a lineout penalty. We robbed ourselves of those opportunities, but fair play to New Zealand. The way they played that second half was pretty special.
"They kept kicking it to us. We had to find a way to get out of there. We went to a kicking game, and it wasn't quite up either to where we would have liked."
The floodgates soon opened with Barrett and McKenzie giving the All Blacks an edge as they switched playmaking roles, while Cam Roigard was the standout, sniping around the ruck, sending well-executed kicks through the defence and holding the ball up to send his teammates over the line while scoring one himself.
It was a different story for the Wallabies. Despite some impressive moments, Donaldson produced both rocks and diamonds. His decision making was questionable, while his execution continues to need some work -- his kicking game especially. Meanwhile, Declan Meredith will want his time back with his errant pass in the closing minutes hitting the deck and resulting in Will Jordan dribbling the ball over the line to score New Zealand's half century.
While Wilson was Captain Courageous once more with a game-high 28 tackles with seven carries, his backrow partners Fraser McReight and Rob Valetini remained relatively quiet, with the All Blacks managing to snuffle McReight's breakdown threats, while the bench gave little impact in a game that had already been won before they'd even taken to the field.
The Wallabies' hopes of ending their 40-year drought at Eden Park were always lofty, but to concede 50 points, and be outscored 33-5 in the second half, demonstrates the level at which they're still yet to reach despite the heroics they produced against the Springboks just two weeks earlier.