Going, going, gone

After one of the strangest and most controversial week's in Australian rugby, the looming dead rubber test match against the All Blacks was shaping up as a potential thrashing at the hands of the world champions.

Wallabies coach Ewen Mckenzie had to face the wrath of the media when defending his relationship with ex team business manager Di Paston after it was revealed that Kurtley Beale was involved in sending a series of damaging test messages to her which has seen him stood down from test match rugby indefinitely.

Mckenzie, spent the majority of the test match lead up facing the barrage of questions regarding the behind the scenes turmoil and very little regarding the match preparations.

The All Blacks maintained during the week they were not taking the Wallabies side lightly despite the off-field drama and would be wanting to bounce back from the loss at the hands of the Springboks.

Well for All Blacks fans it was a very tense 79 minute match last night in Brisbane. Right from the get go the tempo was high from both teams, which usually leads to the Wallabies dropping off as the match continued.

However it was clear that perhaps the off-field situation had actually galvanised the players into putting out a performance to keep their fans happy as well as giving Adam Ashley-Cooper a memorable 100th test match.

All seemed lost, All Blacks down with less than 3 minutes on the clock, the un-natural feeling of a Wallabies win was staring us all down the barrell and i'm sure Ewen was probably feeling as though he was reaching the end of the long tunnel he no doubt found himself in during the week.

But just as quickly, the Wallabies were reminded of just how good this team is at playing right up until the final whistle, and despite the schmozzle on the field, they never give up and have the belief that they can pull out the victory in the unlikeliest of circumstances.

Much of the blame has been laid from the Wallabies supporters onto Nic White who for reasons unknown decided to go to the trusty box kick within their 22 and giving possession back to the All Blacks.

It highlighted that while the Wallabies made massive strides in the first 40-50 minutes of the game they still face an uphill battle when it comes to their bench players. They still just don't have the players that are able to come off the bench, no matter the scoreline or game situation and close it out.

It was a case of agonisingly close, even more so than the 12 all draw we saw in Sydney to start the Bledisloe Cup series and it was indeed the final time that Mckenzie would be coach of the Wallabies.

Sensationally post match he made the announcement that he had in fact sent his letter of resignation that morning to the ARU and would be stepping down immediately.

It was clear that this was a coach who had simply failed to unite his dressing room, with several key, senior players coming out during the week backing Beale to stay within Australian rugby.

A move that would never be made by any of the All Blacks, especially around a highly sensitive issue regarding, what is plain and simply workplace harassment.

Michael Cheika appears to be the early front-runner but just what kind of impact can be made less than 12 months out from the World Cup remains to be seen.

It is shaping up as a highly interesting spring tour for the men in green and gold, can they possibly get behind a coach or will it be a speed bump on an already up and down year.