The Wallabies will present a stronger opposition in their Nations Championship games next month, at least more than the one they posed in back-to-back Bledisloe Cup defeats, which extended Australia's trans-Tasman to six seasons and 13 Tests.
Les Kiss' side were completely outclassed at Accor Stadium on Saturday afternoon, after they failed to convert three wonderful try-scoring opportunities inside the first 15 minutes and then saw the All Blacks pile on four tries in 14 minutes.
They would later trail 36-7 at halftime and while Australia did "win" the second half 14-7, it was cold comfort given the match was dead as a contest after just 40 minutes.
Kiss was unable to pinpoint why exactly the Wallabies' attack was misfiring inside 22 the past two weeks, with scrum-half Ryan Lonergan also at a loss to explain the instances of poor pass selection and simple lineout-drive mistakes.
"I'm not too sure, previously this year we've stayed quite patient and we've been really, really good down there in that zone, and the last couple of weeks, we're just missing that execution a little bit," Lonergan told reporters following the 43-21 defeat in Sydney.
"It's as simple as a pass sometimes. Our structures down there in that zone haven't changed much.
"Credit to their [All Blacks'] defence. They're really sending two into that contact and slowing our ball down, and then it's pretty hard to attack off that slow ball. But I think there's still definitely times there where we just push a little bit too much or if we haven't worked hard enough, and it's not so much pushing it but just executing it, and then we're under the sticks. It's a fine line."
Fraser McReight also credited the All Blacks' ability to disrupt Australia's ball deep in a phase set, but the No. 7 was left lamenting poor skill execution that saw clean breaks halted by a pass on the deck and defensive overlaps wasted with the wrong split-second decision.
"The pass execution, there were some skill set things - exactly right," McReight said when a lack of skill quality was put to him post-match. "I felt like we worked really hard to get into the A-zone and they sort of made it a bit of s---fight for us, and it was the opposite when they went into our D-zone. So I guess it's about trying to bring that [gap] a bit more even and really executing when you're in the A-zone."
Australia had to deal with the disruption of injury, suspension and both Bledisloe Tests being staged outside a World Rugby Test window, which robbed them of the availability of Tom Hooper and Taniela Tupou.
Rugby Australia may analyse the wisdom of agreeing to such a schedule in the future but, in the shorter term, Kiss is poised to welcome back Carter Gordon, Len Ikitau, Hunter Paisami, Ben Donaldson, and both Hooper and Tupou, for the northern hemisphere block of Nations Championship games.
The first of those comes against England in three weeks' time, when Australia will confront a different challenge - likely a more traditional territory game that includes plenty of high balls - and little of the All Blacks' sweeping attacking brilliance that eventually wore the Wallabies' defence down.
"ABs are world class for a reason, they're top two in the world," Wallabies No. 7 Fraser McReight added. "And I don't think there are many teams that attack like that, very fast and direct and incisive, so it was a great test for us.
"And I think we learned a lot last week, albeit the scoreline wasn't great; same for today, we'll learn a lot. But you can't give a team 22 points [start]; given they're a top team in the world, you can't give them 22 points."
While Wallabies No. 10 Declan Meredith enjoyed the best Test of his short international career to date in Sydney, it is likely that Kiss would revert to Gordon at fly-half to face England, or even Donaldson who was ruled out of Bledisloe II with a minor groin injury.
Paisami and Ikitau would be at short odds to reform the midfield partnership that created havoc against the Springboks in Perth, while Tupou and Hooper make the bench a far more imposing proposition; Josh Canham meanwhile continued his stellar season with a strong cameo off the bench in Sydney after returning from a hamstring injury.
Australia should otherwise take a clean bill of health into the Allianz Stadium Twickenham Test on Nov. 8, with McReight revealing the squad now had a couple of weeks off to regroup before returning to camp to prepare for the final four Tests of the 2026.
None of which, McReight says, should see Australia under the pump like they were during the first half in Sydney.
"No other teams in the northern hemisphere that we're [playing], I guess Scotland a little bit but not at the ABs' level, attack like that," McReight added. "So for us, we're [playing] the best and adapting to the best, so what's the next rung... I think for us England's first up and they love a high-kick game, they've got some big forwards, quick outside backs.
"So I think for us we've got some time away, we've got two weeks off before we come back into camp, so enjoy family time before a four-week tour. It is tough over there, but I think we really relish northern hemisphere teams and especially playing in England; in '24 we had a great win, last year we were in that match until the 65th minute before it went away for us.
"The belief is there and we've just got to keep working and taking [our] lessons."