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A brutal Lions scrummaging onslaught and an horrific start and finish by the Wallabies combined to see Robbie Deans fighting for his job on a demoralising low on Saturday night.
The British and Irish Lions outmuscled and embarrassed Australia 41-16 at a packed-out ANZ Stadium to celebrate a drought-breaking series success in style.
After waiting 16 long years, singing and chanting Lions fans were absolutely jubilant in what was an almost-certain the death knell for Deans.
With intense speculation already swirling before the third Test that his tenure was coming to an end, the record four-tries-to-one defeat is expected to force the New Zealander’s demise.
It wasn’t just the scoreline but the manner of the loss, in front of a reconfigured ground crowd record of 83,702, that was damning for Australia.
“Devastated,” was skipper James Horwill’s post-match reaction.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow because we didn’t put our best out there.”
The dominant Lions scrum set the platform for the hiding by chewing up and spitting out the Wallabies pack in a one-sided first half.
The demolition job, led by English prop Alex Corbisiero, who wasn’t even included in the original tour party, started from the first set-piece in the opening minute after Will Genia dropped the kick-off.
“We got penalised early and we probably became a little bit gun shy,” Horwill said. “We sat back a bit and allowed them to dictate terms and that hurt us.
“They scrummaged well and we weren’t up to scratch.”
The Wallabies’ nightmare start had the tourists leading 10-0 after seven minutes and then 19-3 when star winger Israel Folau tore his hamstring in the 26th minute.
In the process George Smith was knocked out and prop Ben Alexander was sin-binned for repeated scrum infringements.
Man-of-the-match Leigh Halfpenny, who finished with eight from nine goals in a record 21-point display, kicked four three-pointers directly from scrum penalties.
The Welsh fullback also racked up a record series haul of 49 to be named player of the series, a decision which came through after he set up two second-half tries to quell a Wallabies fightback.
But the Wallabies did claw their way back into the game with 13 points five minutes either side of halftime, sparked by a jinking James O’Connor try just before the break, to be 19-16 down.
But another scrum penalty, showing that inconsistency in the set piece is still a major Achilles heel for Australia, turned the tide back the tourists’ way.
Lions coach Warren Gatland’s controversial call to dump Irish great Brian O’Driscoll and stick with Jonathan Davies in the midfield then paid off handsomely when the Welshman played a key role for Jonny Sexton to cross and put the Lions 13 points clear.
Tries to giant Welsh backs George North and Jamie Roberts, two of 10 Welshman in the starting side, finished a 10-minute blitz which saw the tourists rack up a record high score against Australia.
The knives quickly came out for Deans in the Twittersphere with dual international Lote Tuqiri, whose Wallabies career ended under the New Zealander, posting “see ya Robbie”.
Deans lamented a “horrific start” and a wonky scrum, which continually struggled to get the ball out the back on their feed.
“They used their set piece with great advantage and then fed off it,” he said.
“We gave them a leg-up which really allowed them to thrive.”
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.