Yes, come down from the ledge Wallaby-faithful. The Australians have stopped the rot in an effort fully deserving of a bagful of clichés, so let's do a few of ‘em together and move on. The monkey is off their backs, they finally focused for the full 80 minutes giving 110 percent and James O'Connor displayed nerves of steel to slot the winner in a thriller.

It's a bit of a stretch to start stirring the pot by suggesting the All Blacks' domination of the Wallabies is a thing of the past and the New Zealanders have commenced their slide into inevitable World Cup oblivion, but what the hell, might as well stick it to them.

Admittedly, one from the last 11 isn't going to win Australia the mind games -- New Zealand is the best side in the world -- but the manner in which the young Australians achieved this particular 26-24 victory will stay with both teams.

The Wallabies have never lacked courage, but occasionally their conviction has been questionable during the Robbie Deans era. Not so in Hong Kong. Even when they had their predictable mid-match collapse, there was relentlessness about their play that suggests they are coming to believe they have the All Blacks measure.

They backed themselves: sticking to their guns (OK I'll stop now) whatever the circumstances. They mined like madmen for fast ball at the breakdown, chopped and changed lines in attack, supported the ball carrier and attempted to be dominant in defence. The backline support play was first class. In close, they occasionally pushed too hard, but conspicuous mistakes are the largely-acceptable price you pay for the kind of blitzkrieg mentality both the Wallabies and the ABs are bringing to the game.

The wheels fall off when self-belief is dented -- a struggling scrum will do that to you, which is why the Wallabies played with bags over their heads for a portion of the match after a lightning start.

Fortunately their set piece wobbles were largely rectified in the second half before heads started to drop and a defensive mentality started creeping in to their game.

Wales, England, Italy and France would have been watching closely. The speed of the test match should intimidate them. The British and Italian game is like an military jeep -- solid, will do what it's jolly-well told, but slow -- compared with the fast and furious southern approach: a Merc? No not quite. A Monaro, awfully quick but maybe a little unstable.

In next weekend's Millennium Stadium clash, the first encounter on a hugely difficult European tour, the Welsh will attempt to shake the Wallabies up with a mixture of set piece muscle and game management unorthodoxy.

They will want to plant doubt in the Wallabies about their ability to execute their extravagant game on British soil and take away the Australians' rhythm, subsquently diminishing their control over the pace and flavour of the contest. Crucially, should Australia falter, the Welsh have some significant attacking weapons and are in no way as one dimensional as England or Italy.

While the Wallabies did struggle against the New Zealand scrum early, the good news is the ABs' eight, is as good or much better than anything in the northern hemisphere.

Benn Robinson looked a little underpowered in the front row against New Zealand, but he'll be better for that run considering he's still ridding himself of the rust following a serious injury.

Wales will try and intimidate Quade Cooper and have some attacking threats primed to rundown that No. 10 channel, but if the Australian playmaker can get away with being a target against the ABs as he clearly was, he should be able to dance around the Welsh and get a bit of help from the backrow in defence.

Matt Giteau is still to strike the form everyone expects of him, but what's the sense of demoting him, despite the fact that the very talented Berrick Barnes is waiting in the wings?

Giteau, regardless of the goal kicking woes, is a match winner. He has and will continue to produce heroics at the highest level, especially against less astute backlines.

The Euro teams won't view the Australian midfield as a weak spot. They'll seek to control the forward battle and put the ball in behind the backs and hope the Aussies don't have the courage of their convictions to run it back at them.

They'll be relying on the truth in a long-standing rugby cliche, that big games are won upfront, in the engine room. Without detracting from the eternal importance of the forward battle, the Wallabies and the All Blacks have a chance to put that one in perspective in coming weeks.