Saturday 27 August 2016 12:19, UK
Michael Lynagh says Australia's depth is an issue after the Wallabies succumbed to their sixth consecutive defeat, on Saturday.
Michael Cheika's side were beaten 29-9 by the New Zealand in Wellington as the All Blacks claimed the Bledisloe Cup for the 14th season in a row.
The Wallabies were whitewashed by England in a three-match series in June, and have now lost both of their opening Rugby Championship fixtures. The current run of form is cause for concern according to former Australia international Lynagh, who spoke on Sky Sports in the wake of Saturday's defeat.
"Six games in a row now and it is a bit of a crisis," said Lynagh.
"The All Blacks played very well last week but Australia were poor, and they were poor again tonight. It's been two games now and we haven't really looked like scoring a try."
The 72-Test international believes Australia needs to invest in the young stars of the game.
"Reece Hodge came on tonight; I think he's a good young player and maybe we should be giving those guys a chance. We've got nothing to lose now.
"The depth is an issue. As soon as we get injuries to some of our senior, more experienced guys, it drops down. Our performance is not there.
"Just basics once again tonight; missing tackles and discipline. I just don't think there is depth in certain positions.
"There is a big problem for Australia at the moment."
In 2015, Cheika was named World Rugby coach of the year after guiding his side to the World Cup final against the All Blacks at Twickenham.
At the time, the Wallabies were ranked as the second best in the world, which makes their current run appear out of character, but Lynagh believes the cracks started to show earlier in the tournament when Australia struggled to beat Scotland in the quarter-final.
"In the World Cup we got lucky against Scotland, maybe we shouldn't have gone much further. It's tough at the moment for Australia, we're not in good shape."
Former New Zealand captain Sean Fitzpatrick was more optimistic about the state of Australian rugby, and feels good opposition played their part in the recent Wallaby record.
"Three of those [losses] were against the All Blacks and three against the English, where potentially they could have won any one of those Test matches," said Fitzpatrick.
"I don't think they need to panic, they just need to get back to winning ways.
"Unfortunately when you're in a downward spiral it's very difficult to pull the handbrake on when you're playing against the best team in the world who are going to punish you."
