By comparison New Zealand's Aaron Smith at times merely lifted the ball with a flick of his wrists.

"[Aaron] Barnes and [Rob] Horne run across the pitch and set up the easy tackle for an already accomplished defence. Even when we set the promising Sitaleki Timani a mid-field crash role from the shortened lineout, Barnes ran across to give him the ball and immediately took away any potential advantage," Dwyer said.

The Australian forward pack didn't escape comment either.

"Our support play has been dreadful for some years and remains so, even though I concede that our line of run and unnecessarily long passes make it difficult in the wide channels. Nevertheless, even in the close channels, we cannot remain accurate for more than a few phases.

"Our newfound 'pick and drive' focus in the opening minutes lasted four phases – then a turnover – and then five phases – then a penalty. This is rubbish," he said.

Dwyer said the Wallabies were the No.2 ranked team in world rugby but on the evidence at the weekend he thought they were so far behind New Zealand he would be surprised if they could see them.

"The simple truth is that there is very little, if indeed anything at all, about our game that is up to 'world class'," he said.

The answer to Dwyer was to set a course for the long haul.

"There is no quick fix for us in our present predicament; we must set the correct course and look to the long term. On the plus side, I have always found that accurate long term solutions invariably provide some short term benefit also," he said.