'We're not going to throw Noah Lolesio under the bus': Dave Rennie after Wallabies crushed by All Blacks

However 54-Test veteran James O'Connor is firming for a recall in the No. 10 jersey for the final match of the series in Brisbane next week.

Lolesio endured a forgettable welcome to the Test arena as New Zealand secured a 43-5 triumph to mark their biggest win over Australia in 117 years of trans-Tasman contests.

So many were confident one of rugby's brightest young talents would rise to the challenge and potentially inspire the Wallabies to level the series having spent the entire first Test on the pine, waiting for a chance that never came.

But it seemed the 20-year-old was rattled by the occasion when it did - but to put the blame squarely on his shoulders would be a major disservice given he played behind a well-beaten forward pack.

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Lolesio was caught out in defence on two occasions in the lead up to tries scored by New Zealand flyhalf Richie Mo'unga en route to man of the match honours, with the Wallabies youngster defending at fullback.

But Rennie says "we battled all over the place" at Sydney Olympic Park on Saturday night against an All Blacks side which simply carved the hosts to pieces.

A knee injury kept O'Connor sidelined and threw Lolesio into the starting XV for a must-win clash, with the Queensland Reds star likely to be fit for next Saturday's clash.

"We expect him to be. He ran reasonably comfortably in a straight line today," Rennie said.

"We'll assess things, we're not going to throw Noah under the bus. We battled all over the place tonight. We'll make a call and see how everyone bounces back.

"Obviously we need to closely look at what we're doing, we need to put in a much better performance and I'm confident we'll get that. As we've talked about, accuracy is key, we chased the game pretty early on.

"[Lolesio] will be happy to get one under his belt. He was cramping, that's the reason we took him off with about 20 to go. He didn't get a hell of a lot of front foot ball, did he? He'll learn a lot from that."

The Wallabies clearly missed O'Connor and injured inside centre Matt To'omua during the third game of the trans-Tasman series, which doubled as the Tri-Nations opener.

Lolesio scored a try in the second half - which ultimately proved to be the Wallabies' first and last shot registered on the scoreboard - as he and ACT Brumbies teammate Irae Simone battled through harsh welcomes to the bright lights of international rugby during the record defeat.

They were the latest among a raft of Test rookies ushered into the Wallabies' ranks during Rennie's three-game tenure.

But as questions swirl about whether the stirring draw in Wellington three weeks ago was a false dawn, Rennie is refusing to put the hefty defeat down to inexperience.

"We're not using it as an excuse. We prepared well," Rennie said.

"You can't turn over ball as often as we did, pushing passes. What we talked about at half-time was just trying to build pressure.

"For 20 minutes [after half-time] we actually played well, we had some pill and actually defended well. Twenty minutes of competitive footy is not enough to cut it with the All Blacks."