Opinion - At full time of last year's World Cup final at Twickenham, the Wallabies could at least contemplate the one silver lining that came out of the 17-point loss - they'd never have to face Richie McCaw or Dan Carter again.

Unfortunately, that counted for absolutely nothing last Saturday night when they got their rear ends handed to them by the All Blacks in the first round of the Rugby Championship.

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

In a performance that contained fewer positives than the Trump 2016 campaign so far, Australian rugby potentially hit a new all-time low. This side is being compared to some of the worst Wallabies teams ever, even though it contains the bulk of the World Cup grand finalists and is headed by World Rugby's reigning coach of the year.

But a look at history tells us that this weekend in Wellington might not be so bad. You have to go a long way back to find consecutive Bledisloe disasters for the Aussies - the infamous 1972 'Woeful Wallabies' to be exact. That year they gave up an aggregate of 97 points to 29 across three horribly mismatched Tests.

Since then, the Wallabies have copped their fair share of hidings. But they've always managed to bounce back and regain some respectability in the next Test: