Australians are down and under as world champions loom

Australia head to the Gold Coast with their confidence battered after another heavy defeat to the All Blacks in the Rugby Championship, and with less than a week to fix a litany of problems before facing world champions SA.

While Sunday’s 38-21 loss at Perth Stadium was a numeric improvement on the 57-22 hammering at Eden Park, scrumhalf Tate McDermott nailed it when he said the Wallabies were stuck in “Groundhog Day”, committing the same mistakes again and again.

Coach Dave Rennie had promised better in Perth after a “brutal” review and a three-week break to reboot the team...