- guardian.co.uk, Sunday July 1 2001 02.17 BST
From the moment they were felled by the ultimate sucker punch three minutes into the match, the Wallabies reeled like a boxing bum who had gone one fight too many.
The Australians expected a forward-based slog, an attack up the middle from the injury-hit Lions, maybe an occasional jab from the flanks. What they did not see coming was the flurry of blows from a rival three-quarter line that reduced them to journeymen.
The fact that this was billed as a world title defence only added to the pathos of champion hitting canvas. And hitting it early.
When centre Brian O'Driscoll made the first of his frequent jet flights through the Wallabies' midfield, and quick ruck ball was transferred to wing Jason Robinson, the Australians were stunned.
Robinson showed Chris Latham his heels and the crowd a punch of elation, and the pounding had begun, before the bell for the end of the first round.
Referee Andre Watson should have stopped the fight there. The Wallabies were a shadow of their best. And their shadow was entitled to be embarrassed.
There was some mindless, maddening rugby from the Australians. Some appalling errors, missed tackles by the score, and their midfield had the substance of rice paper.
Fly-half Stephen Larkham, usually a robust defender, was three times a turnstile, offering little resistance as ball carriers brushed past him during try-scoring raids. On each occasion, he was beaten on the inside shoulder. He had been targeted and nailed.
But as dreadful as the Wallabies were, it is to take nothing away from a quality Lions performance. O'Driscoll and Rob Henderson in the centre were brilliant, exhilarating. The Lions defence was near flawless. Until they backed off in the last 15 minutes, with victory safe, the Wallabies rarely broke the line.
To be honest, they rarely raised themselves above the abysmal. They lost line-out throws to almost comical proportions. Their scrum was under pressure. Their renowned patience failed them in attack, there was no sustained continuity to their game.
This Wallaby side has ground down opponents in the past by starving them of possession, driving them to distraction or the concession of penalties by protecting the ball as they would a new-born infant.
But the baby got dropped at the Gabba. An onrushing defence deployed by the Lions - another masterstroke from coach Graham Henry - kept the Wallabies under the kind of white heat pressure they have rarely encountered.
Larkham had neither time nor space to go exploring for gaps. Centre Nathan Grey mishandled several times. Passes were thrown indiscreetly as players felt the hot breath of Lions on their trail.
The only consolation is that they surely cannot play so poorly again. It was, without too much doubt, their worst display since Rod Macqueen took over as coach following the 1997 Pretoria disaster. At Loftus Versfeld, in what was the final international for his predecessor Greg Smith, the Australians were crushed 61-22 with the white towel thrown in early in the second half.
This time at least they did not surrender. Two late tries salvaged something of a mauled reputation. But it could not camouflage their deficiencies, or their tendency for self-destruction.
Macqueen admitted that the Australians had not played well. He was restrained, but would have been burning inside. The work ahead of him and his team this week is mountainous. They were picked off by the Lions in attack. Their patterns were studied and their rivals found them predictable.
With Larkham and hooker Jeremy Paul out for the rest of the series with injuries and skipper John Eales in danger of missing the second Test in Melbourne on Saturday with a dead leg, the Wallabies are in serious trouble.
Even before the re-match, you sense a knock-out punch is looming.
