Cheika was frustrated by how easily the Wallabies folded after an excellent, though sapping, first-half defensive effort in Saturday night's 38-13 Rugby Championship opener in Sydney.

The Wallabies leaked six tries in the last 41 minutes as the All Blacks turned the screws like only they can.

Cheika said his side must develop a harder edge to seriously compete with world sport's most ruthless team in Saturday's must-win clash at the All Blacks' Eden Park graveyard.

"All the good work you do can get undone in a very short space of time when you aren't concentrating on what you want to do, playing your role in the team for 80 minutes," the coach said before flying out with his team on Sunday.

"We need to be playing more of that 80 minutes, be clear on what we're doing and deliver on that to defeat New Zealand."

Cheika said Australia's disastrous set-piece performance, including seven lost line-out throws and a monstered scrum in the absence of injured props Scott Sio and Taniela Tupou, was no excuse for the second-half collapse.

"You can't sook about it. You've got to get on with it," he said.

"It's a lineout; if you don't win it, go get the ball some other way.

"We've just got to recover. Forget about that, move on to the next thing.

"When I'm coaching a team, I want those things to go well and we prepare for those things to go well.

"But even when they don't, the opportunities are still there to make the tackles, get the ball back and we still had plenty of ball even losing those lineouts."

Cheika pointed out that despite their problems in the lineout, the Wallabies still created three or four attacking opportunities after Jack Maddocks' try that pulled the hosts back to within 13 points of the All Blacks with 13 minutes to go.

"We need to convert, not throw the ball away," he said.

Australia have not won at Eden Park since 1986 but Cheika is refusing to raise the white flag.

"The job's the same. We've still got to win two games (to win the series)," he said.

"There's no more room for manoeuvre. We've got to bring everything on Saturday."

The mountain is even steeper, though, with star fullback Israel Folau ruled out with an ankle injury, replaced in the 28-man squad by winger Sefa Naivalu.

The Wallabies expect to have Tupou available after the powerhouse prop was scratched just hours before Saturday night's showdown with a hamstring injury.

Towering lock Rory Arnold also travelled to New Zealand as a possible solution to the Wallabies' lineout woes.

Australian Associated Press