In 2004, when Graham Henry took the reins of the New Zealand rugby team, a new pattern was implemented based on a flat back-line structure – the Randwick attack utilised by the 1984 Wallaby Grand Slam team. This was the last time the All Blacks lost two straight matches.

Now Robbie Deans has destructively shown that he is the finest rugby coach in world rugby, with a gold-clad team showing the patience and steel evident in his Crusaders lineups, plus the audacious verve so characteristic in strong Wallaby sides.

In the space of a week, they have taken the prestigious trophies of victories over the Springboks and the All Blacks – the planet's best teams - and a win in Eden Park next weekend will ordain the Wallabies to the rank of the world’s No.1 rugby union team.

On evidence of Saturday evening’s performance, it would be an appropriate elevation. This was quite possibly the finest performance ever seen by an Australian rugby team.

As inept as the All Blacks appeared on the night, they still had enough class and created enough opportunities to win - spearheaded by an exquisite virtuoso performance from Daniel Carter. But this was a Wallaby team who for the second consecutive week outplayed their opponents in the physical contest, something previously unseen by Australian sides.

For the All Blacks, two matches have truly seen their world tip upside down. Their scrum, long their most formidable department, could not dominate for their second successive game. The back row, for so long the masters of the ruck, looked laboured and unimpressive against what is now the world’s premier loose-forward combination. There is now a team-selection crisis. The reality is that more than one-third of the positions in New Zealand’s premier team are flawed – as are the combinations.

The team's ball control, so long the All Blacks strongest asset, was terrible. Each match is now a walk down the Green Mile for Graham Henry and his men, and this was one of the worst displays from a New Zealand team.

What made it worse was that the All Blacks had their opportunities to take the game – but did not show the ability to keep the pressure on a very composed Wallaby team. They now have a hand firmly on both the Bledisloe and Tri-Nations trophies, and it will not be easy to beat this Australian team, who are showing vast improvement with each week under Dean’s tutelage.

The strengths of the Wallaby game have always been uncompromising defence and intelligent play – but this is now being matched with the old graft and supreme patience seen in championship Canterbury teams. Make no mistake, there was nothing in the Australian performance that could be criticised, and what made their victory even sweeter was that they beat an All Black team that still showed glimpses of their might, but did not have the composure of the Wallabies.

For New Zealand, there will be a slight relief that there are still some very good players wearing the black jersey. Carter and Mils Muliaina were sublime and showed enough individual brilliance to win any game. But the forwards are in trouble after three crooked lineout throws, never competing against the opposition line, showing no dominance in the scrum and another poor performance from the normally fearsome loose forwards.

With the outside centre and right wing being rotated game to game, there was little fluency in the back-line – while a poor Andy Ellis is not performing to the standard required of a New Zealand halfback.

This could have been the unravelling of the premier running line breakers, Ma’a Nonu and Sione Lauaki, showing their inadequacies when shut down by a committed defence. Two of Lauaki’s dropped balls indirectly led to Australian scores – showing the time-honoured Canterbury tradition of immediate points conversion of opposition mistakes.

The only consolation is that both the Springboks and All Blacks are better teams than the outfits that have fallen to the hands of this rapidly-evolving Wallaby side. But this is a team playing a truly frightening brand of rugby that may see us at the coronation of a new global rugby superpower.

The continuous adoration of Deans by the Australian media will now reach a new crescendo – while the hounds and the vultures will now be bailing louder at Henry’s door. A week is a very long time in sport, and another loss this weekend will see them fall to their worst losing run since 1988.