Reaction: New Zealand's papers launched a savage attack on the players and coaching staff after the tournament favourites fell to their most bitter rivals.

One paper labelled the team "chokers", the most loathed epithet in professional sport, while another described the loss as the "end of the world".

Radio programmes were filled with listeners venting frustration, with sports commentator Murray Deaker saying: "We stuffed up again right at the time when we needed them to perform."

However, Prime Minister Helen Clark urged New Zealanders to accept the Australians had just played better.

"New Zealanders just need to accept we were beaten by a better team on the night," Clark was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, the Wallabies were hailed as heroes by the same Australian media that had written them off as title contenders well before their meeting with New Zealand.

"The Wallabies believed when almost everyone else had lost the faith - and last night they delivered their miracle," the Sunday Telegraph's chief rugby correspondent Peter Jenkins wrote.

The Sun-Herald's chief rugby writer Greg Growden said Australia's timing was perfect.

"The Wallabies defied all the odds when they at last got it all together at exactly the right time to ensure New Zealand's hideous 16-year World Cup drought continued," Growden wrote.