Wallabies lock Rob Simmons has dismissed constant shuffling of second row combinations and a small back row as excuses for Australia's poor lineout performance against the All Blacks.

Henry Speight is poised trade the Rio Olympics for a humble rugby field at Bond University.

The Wallabies' hopes of regaining the Bledisloe Cup have taken another major blow with Matt Giteau and Rob Horne ruled out for the remainder of the Rugby Championship. 

The failure of New Zealand Rugby to hold off telling police for five days that a hidden listening device was found in a team meeting room is "far from ideal" from an anti-corruption perspective according to Malcolm Speed, the executive director of the Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports.

• ANALYSIS

Australian rugby's failure at the moment is a collective one.

Ex-Brumbies start 'Buzz4Bruz' hashtag to support Christian Lealiifano as he fights leukaemia.

All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster insists searching hotel rooms for listening devices does make his touring party paranoid, saying "you can kick that word for touch".

Rating the Wallabies after a Test match like that. What fun.

• ANALYSIS

If the All Blacks were, as they believe, the target of illegal surveillance and if the Australian Rugby Union had, as chief executive Bill Pulver stated on Saturday, nothing to do with the planting of the device, then World Rugby has a problem on its hands.

Michael Cheika could find few positives from the Wallabies 42-8 loss to the All Blacks in the Bledisloe Cup opener and faces a nervous wait to see whether he loses a trio of backs for the next Test in Wellington. 

In the aftermath of a record win on Australian soil, New Zealand coach Steve Hansen moved to play down revelations his team may have been spied upon in their Sydney hotel.

Follow all the action live as the Wallabies look to get their Rugby Championship campaign off to a winning start in Sydney against the world champions.

• COMMENT

There have been plenty of memorable moments at the Rio Olympic Games, and you don't have to be a rugby supporter to have been swept up in the euphoria of the Australian women's sevens team picking up a gold medal.

Interim ACT Brumbies chief executive Phil Thomson has ruled himself out of a long-term posting.

The Wallabies began their captain's run on Friday blaring the Aussie rock classic Holy Grail by Hunters & Collectors in what is surely an omen for their attempt at clinching what has become their own holy grail for the past 13 years – the Bledisloe Cup.

Too deep, too predictable, why don't they kick it to Izzy? The critics piled on after Australia's 3-0 series loss to England. Here attack coach Stephen Larkham weighs in on the public debate, and so do the people who knew him well as a player.

The All Blacks' injury crisis has gone from bad to worse on the eve of the Bledisloe Cup with starting hooker Nathan Harris ruled out for the remainder of the Rugby Championship with a ruptured ACL. 

South Africa coach Allister Coetzee begins his first Rugby Championship campaign on Saturday knowing the Springboks must master their old strengths against Argentina before they can start to spread their wings.

• COMMENT

The Bledisloe Cup series for 2016 favours the All Blacks retaining the iconic trophy. But there is one factor working for the Wallabies. They play the first Test of the series in Sydney.