It just isn't fair. The Wallabies got themselves all revved up, fixed plenty from last week, gave everything they had and still took a royal thumping.

What are they to do? Are they ever going to win back the Bledisloe Cup or is this their fate now – to be interminably destroyed by the All Blacks?

Well, it may well be that this is for the foreseeable future as while the Wallabies were greatly improved from Sydney, they were still guilty of taking a knife to a gun fight.

They went pop, the All Blacks went bang and therein lies the story of the last 16 years.

Once again the All Blacks had too much presence and too much presence of mind.

They also had too much of Beauden Barrett and all those who were silly enough to call for a changing of the guard at No 10, need to have their toenails clipped annoyingly short.

Barrett was brilliant – as good as Daniel Carter in the second test against the British and Irish Lions in 2005.

Maybe even better. He scored more tries than Carter did that night and believe it or not, had more influence.

Which is ridiculous because no one ever thought they would see a better performance by a No 10 than the one Carter produced that night.

But maybe Barrett delivered just that as it wasn't just the haul of tries he claimed that marked his performance.

He was tactically spot on and his kicking was supremely good. It was a golden performance from a player who has never doubted himself of been doubted by those who matter, but who nevertheless probably needed to serve a reminder of his sublime talent.

He can consider the job done on that front and presumably his confidence, if it had ever been dented by a quiet Super Rugby campaign and a pointless public debate, will now be soaring.

Everything good the All Blacks did came through Barrett, with Ben Smith chipping in as his own source of pop-up inspiration.

Those two were the providers of most of the little moments that broke the Wallabies resistance – those two and one Brodie Retallick who hauled the ball out of Wallabies' hands seemingly whenever he felt like it.

By the final 15 minutes it felt like the All Blacks were capable of anything. Damian McKenzie was at first five or maybe it was Ofa Tuungafasi or Ardie Savea, it didn't matter, the ball was buzzing about and the Wallabies were chasing shadows, desperate for the final whistle to blow so they could have a sit down and a bit of time without the All Blacks messing with their psyche.

And they really did mess with it because once again the Wallabies were good for 40 minutes and they didn't throw in the towel even when they were being hopelessly outclassed in the second half.

It is important to acknowledge the improvements they made to put the All Blacks' performance into context.

The Wallabies fixed their scrum. No one can doubt that because the All Blacks were under pressure there in the first half.

There was maybe a bit of nonsense refereeing that helped the Wallabies to some extent but the picture was hard to deny that Australia's scrum was rock solid and it was from that particular platform that Will Genia scored their opening try.

The Wallabies lineout didn't make such a miraculous recovery but it was thoroughly patched up and functioned well enough they could get into the game from it.

So it was a genuine test in a way the first game hadn't been. The All Blacks had to work for everything they got and think on their feet to be able to absorb and apply pressure.

That it was a proper test makes it all the more worrying for everyone else: a proper test and the All Blacks just about score 50.

New Zealand 40 (B. Barrett (4), J. Moody, L. Squire tries; B. Barrett 5 cons)
Australia 12 (W. Genia, R. Hodge tries; B. Foley con)