For many coaches, the spectre of a 24-0 scoreline after seven minutes would prompt rushed letters of resignation and a hasty retreat from the stadium.

But not Wallaby coach Rod Macqueen - far from it. In fact Macqueen really didn't have much to say at all about the precarious situation that saw the All Blacks race to a 24-0 lead in the Tri Nations clash at Stadium Australia. Most of the world record crowd had barely made themselves comfortable.

For Macqueen, the key was composure, not just on the field, but also in the coach's box.

"Obviously it was very concerning," Macqueen said. "There's not much you can say at that point. Sometime those sorts of things happen. There was a lot of the bounce-of-the-ball situation and they've got some fast and talented backs who made it very difficult for us early on.

"The message went out to John that there was plenty of time, to keep it tight and not panic. We really hadn't touched the ball until then. Once we got hold of the ball we found gaps almost immediately and that was the evidence we were looking for before we could make nay decisions.

"I don't need to say, I was obviously pleased with our reaction and been able to hang in there and come back. Overall from a game perspective, I was very proud of the way the players came back and also we got two points out of it as far as the Tri Nations is concerned so at least we're still in with a shot. Being down 24-0 and coming back from that and playing with composure is probably the best football we've put together."

"But we lost the game and we're not happy about that. It was our duty to win the game for Australia."

For Wallaby captain John Eales, a 24-0 scoreline after such a short time was a new experience in his vast career. He was adamant, however, the game was lost in the final two minutes, and not during the explosive opening 10 minutes by the All Blacks.

"It was a strange situation and one that I'm not accustomed to at all," Eales said. "We knew that it wasn't through any particular bad play we had done and almost in many way was a freak occurrence. So we didn't really have to change a lot of what we planned to do."