'We can turn it around,' says apologetic Wallabies coach Jones

Eddie Jones insists he can turn the Wallabies into world-beaters despite another below-par performance in their Bledisloe Cup loss to New Zealand in Melbourne.

The Wallabies started well in both halves on Saturday but fell away with All Blacks running in six tries in a 38-7 victory, which was the Australians' third successive defeat.

The veteran coach apologised and implored fans - more than 83,000 turned out at the MCG on Saturday night - to stick with the side as they build towards the World Cup which starts in early September in France.

"We apologise to all the fans and it's not good enough, but that's my fault. That's my responsibility and I'll take it on the chin," said Jones.

"It's a terrible result and I take full responsibility for it.

"But I've coached teams like this before and you can turn it around.

"I saw enough to know that we can be a bloody good team - it doesn't look like it at the moment but I'm telling you we can."

Jones described the team as a "work in progress" and felt they had the upper hand in the opening 20 minutes, when they led 7-5 with their physicality dominant.

"You've got to be able to do that for 80 minutes and when you put teams under pressure you've got to be able to convert that into points and we're not good enough to do that at the moment," he said.

"My experience is that when you're trying to play a different way you can do it for periods of time and then you can't as it's not automatic enough."

Jones was reminded of the 2003 Bledisloe Cup, when they were thrashed 50-21 in the opening game in Sydney but in the World Cup that year upset the All Blacks in the semi-final before losing to England in the final.

"We got hammered by more than this," Jones said of that result.

"I saw enough to make me believe that we can (turn it around) but there's a lot of hard work to do.

"Transforming a team from where they are now to a team that's capable of beating New Zealand takes a lot of hard work and the clock's ticking but we've still got time."

Jones defended selecting 22-year-old Carter Gordon to make his starting debut in the high-stakes game, with the Wallabies attempting to win the trans-Tasman trophy for the first time since 2002.

The youngster was sharp in attack in the early exchanges but his kicking was fairly ineffective.

"I think he's the best young 10 in Australia and I've seen Richie Mo'unga play Tests like that. If you look at his first 45 Tests, he had a bit of up and down," Jones said.

"Sometimes you've got to go through a bit of pain to bring young blokes through and I'm prepared to go through that."

The Wallabies travel from Melbourne to Dunedin for the second Cup Test next Saturday and will be without props Allan Alaalatoa, whose Achilles injury will keep him out the World Cup, Taniela Tupou (ribs) and co-captain Michael Hooper (calf).