The concern for the Wallabies is the All Blacks pack won't be entirely satisfied after they failed to get out of second gear during a rusty 27-19 Bledisloe Cup win in Sydney last night.
It was the All Blacks super-sized backline and five Dan Carter penalties that provided the polish with slick first half tries to wings Israel Dagg and Cory Jane taking the wind out of the Wallabies sails in front of 76,877 fans.
Australia got close enough in the match to provide hope next week in Auckland, but made a season of mistakes during the first half of the inaugural test of the Rugby Championship.
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Fullback Kurtley Beale was the main culprit putting on a horror show at fullback.
The All Blacks will not be happy after blowing too many line breaks to count and failing to gain real dominance up front.
The silver-lining for coach Robbie Deans will be that his pack did not get entirely demolished with the honours split at scrum time where referee Alain Roland dished out penalties in both directions.
Both sides blew numerous scoring chances and All Blacks coach Steve Hansen will be happy with the intensity and intent, but not the ball retention.
That said, the All Blacks backs took two chances with ruthless efficiency as the Wallabies defenders were sucked up by the hulking midfield of Sonny Bill Williams and Ma'a Nonu.
The Wallabies may have led 3-0 early, but the signs in the backs were ominous when Nonu skipped past Anthony Faingaa in the sixth minute.
The All Blacks were putting first five-eighth Berrick Barnes under immense pressure with No. 8 Kieran Read returning to action with a commanding performance in defence.
When Beale came into first receiver to try and spark something he was held up off the ground and from the resulting midfield scrum the All Blacks backs showed exactly how difficult they are to defend.
Dagg lined up directly behind Dan Carter and the two ghosted across field. Their space was created by decoy runs from Sonny Bill Williams and Hosea Gear and by the time Carter passed to the outside the defence had disappeared.
Dagg did the rest skipping outside Beale and suddenly the Wallabies looked wobbly at 13-3 when Carter banged over his second penalty.
Barnes was being targeted with McCaw charging at him and he threw a poor pass as the pressure mounted.
The All Blacks were in again when Beale shelled a pass in his 22.
Again it was the decoy factor of the All Blacks midfield as Nonu took out Rob Horne and Dagg only had to move the ball on to Jane, who went past the hapless Beale to make it 18-3 near the break.
Australia kept in touch through four Barnes penalties, but were their own worst enemies.
Halfback Will Genia snuck through from a ruck, but Belae took a quick tap from a penalty and the chance was lost when Nathan Sharpe turned the ball over.
Then No. 8 Scott Higginbotham shelled a pass after finding himself in the open as the handling errors mounted.
But to Australia's credit they didn't chuck in the towel.
Barnes was playing so far behind the gain line his outsides stood little chance against the rushing All Blacks defence, but he did make one crucial half break near half time.
It provided rare front-foot ball and wing Digby Ioane charged through close to the next ruck before Sharpe crashed over to close to 18-10 at the break.
Australia will now have to win the remaining two Bledisloe Cup tests to get their hands on a trophy they last held in 2002.