Sensational one week, terrible the next.
It is back to the drawing board for the Jekyll and Hyde Wallabies, who on Saturday night had few answers to a fired-up Springboks team intent on exacting revenge for their own limp showing seven days earlier.
Right from the opening whistle the Wallabies were outplayed at Allianz Stadium. The Springboks made a mess of their breakdown early on, with Nic White put under huge pressure; the scrum-half's kicking game suffered as a result and Australia were left playing catch-up from Damian de Allende's early try onwards.
And they were never really in the game as a result.
The 24-8 scoreline was an accurate reflection of the 80 minutes at Allianz Stadium, with Wallabies coach Dave Rennie saying post match his team had "barely fired a shot".
Unfortunately for Australia, Saturday's night's Test was a lot like their effort against England in Brisbane earlier this year. After a character-filled 30-28 win in Perth, where they played a man down for more than 50 minutes, the Wallabies were blown off the paddock at Suncorp Stadium when the visitors rocketed out to a 19-0 lead.
While the Springboks took a little longer to dominate in Sydney, the Wallabies were never able to put their opponents under any consistent pressure; the rare occasion they did midway through the second half, the TMO interjected to highlight a dangerous cleanout by Allan Alaalatoa and any remote chance of a late comeback was snuffed out there and then.
While both the Rugby Championship and the elite level of world rugby has never been tighter, no one can seriously look at the upcoming Bledisloe Cup series, let alone the Rugby World Cup, and say the Wallabies are capable of lifting either trophy.
Even if the Wallabies were to win in Melbourne on Thursday week, recent history suggests they would be meekly swept aside at Eden Park 10 days later - even before you consider Australia are winless there since 1986.
"I don't know about one [step] forward, two back," Rennie replied when it was put to him by ESPN that his team had shown it could make progress, then to only undo their good work the following week.
"Like I said before, it's a tough competition and you've got to be at your best every week to be in with a sniff. Clearly that's been a big part of our mantra, we have an understanding that we're playing for something bigger than ourselves; there's no shortage of motivation in this group and no shortage of belief.
"But we've got to win those key moments and we've got to do the basics a helluva lot better, certainly we were a long way away from the start we had last week."
Rennie has made the point throughout his tenure that the Wallabies need to earn the respect of the nation, that they want Australians behind them, but it is on the team to give them reason to do so.
But that will be a challenge whist ever they remain as consistent as the Cityrail trains in Sydney right now, and equally as infuriating.
Certainly the concussions to both Noah Lolesio and Hunter Paisami didn't help their cause on Saturday night, a problem exacerbated by a 6-2 forward-backs split on the bench - a move that always carries a huge amount of risk.
The Wallabies will also be closely monitoring injuries to Taniela Tupou [calf] and Marika Koroibete in the run to next week's Test at Marvel Stadium, while both Paisami and Lolesio will have to go through the concussion protocols - though the Thursday night kick-off means both will have served the 12-day stand-down period if they are free of symptoms.
If Lolesio is out, then Rennie may well be forced to turn to Bernard Foley at No. 10 - a man who hasn't played since May and whose last Test came during pool play at the 2019 World Cup.
All this after the All Blacks, who hammered the Pumas 53-3 in Hamilton, suddenly again resembled the rugby juggernaut their own supporters had been lamenting the loss of.
While sections of the Australian rugby media saw it wise to declare the Bledisloe drought could end in 2022, Saturday night's deflating loss suggests that thinking remains as wishful as ever.
And that Rennie is facing the same old problems, with no sight of any answers on the horizon.