Eddie Jones bears the brunt after promising Australia a quick fix

Rugby union has been on the wane in Australia at least since Michael Cheika's Wallabies reached the 2015 World Cup final -- and some would argue even that campaign was merely a sticking plaster over an already festering wound.

The Wallabies, now ranked 10th in the world, have been unable to come close to taking the Bledisloe Cup from the All Blacks for two decades and have won just 14 of 42 tests since exiting the last World Cup in the quarter-finals.

Jones returned home in January, however, and immediately trumpeted that Australia would win back the Bledisloe Cup and claim the World Cup for a third time this year.

One victory and seven defeats later, the Bledisloe Cup is still locked up in New Zealand and Australia are heading for a pool-stage departure from the World Cup for the first time.

Back home, Australian rugby has become a small game in a very crowded sports marketplace, vying for young talent and fans with the similar but far more popular rugby league.

There remains an enthusiastic base at the grassroots and plenty of kids lace up their boots to play at the weekend, but pathways have become cluttered and the emotional connection to the country's five Super Rugby franchises has loosened.

Success, or lack of it, has played a part in that.

AUSTRALIA REBUILD

Wins for those Super Rugby teams against their New Zealand counterparts have been rare in the last decade, rarer still since the trans-continental competition shrank to essentially an Australasian affair in the wake of the COVID pandemic.

Wales and former British & Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland, who has played a role at the Waikato Chiefs Super Rugby team over the last three seasons, believes it is here that Australia must look to start the rebuild.

"There's definitely a dominance of the New Zealand teams in terms of that competition," he said after Sunday's match at OL Stadium in which Wales enjoyed a record 40-6 victory.

"If you can get performances, results, get to quarter-finals, semi-finals, finals, then it has a huge positive impact on the national team in terms of players coming in with a bit of a spring in their step."

A case in point might be Wallabies flyhalf Carter Gordon, who plays for the Melbourne Rebels. They have won eight of 28 games over the last two seasons, only one coming against New Zealand opposition.

Gatland has a similar problem with the regional franchises in Wales and said that in both countries it was going to be a difficult task and certainly not an overnight solution.

"That's the first step that I think Australian Rugby needs to focus on, quality players and quality coaches doing a job," he added.

"That's probably something that Australia needs to eventually do, because they've definitely got some quality players and ... some really talented youthful players coming through."