The axe is hovering over Aussie Bob

The Lions routed Australia in Sydney last night; there is no other way to put it. From the moment that Will Genia spilled the kick-off and English prop Alex Corbisiero scored beside the posts moments later, there was really only one team in it.

Sydney Morning Herald rugby columnist Paul Tully gives his view of events:

These Lions tours are based on tradition, values that hark back to another era. So it was apt that on Saturday night when the Wallabies were soundly beaten, old values were at the heart of it. Pure power, matched with technique at the scrum, and a huge appetite for the collision. The better team won because it was more closely connected with the game's unchanging principles.
It started with a calamity. The Lions kicked deep right and the Wallabies were caught asleep.
Will Genia looked at Kane Douglas and the second-rower looked back. In between the indecision, a ball was falling to the ground. Genia lurched forwards but it was too late. A knock-on, a scrum, and a Lions try.
It was the start of a horrible trend. Almost immediately, referee Romain Poite was being instructed by assistant referee Craig Joubert to keep an eye on the side of Ben Alexander. The English prop Alex Corbisiero, who Alexander did not have to face at Twickenham last year, was bringing all manner of misery to the Brumbies man. Not that the problems were restricted to that side. Benn Robinson didn't escape the referee's whistle either.
Poite's tone became almost pleading with Wallabies captain James Horwill as the penalties mounted. The message was: you are leaving me no choice, a yellow card is coming.
Lions scrum coach Graham Rowntree said beforehand he trusted the Frenchman would reward the dominant scrum. It was prophetic. Poite reached for his pocket and Alexander was gone. His name will be added to a list of Wallabies props who have been cruelly exposed.
They do not call the set-piece a platform for nothing. From it, the Lions repeatedly launched their big ball carriers - Alun Wyn-Jones and Richard Hibbard were ubiquitous. Irishman Sean O'Brien soothed restless Irish fans angered by Brian O'Driscoll's absence with an immense shift, crashing into bodies. Dan Lydiate also did his work at the breakdown, and Toby Faletau completed the dominant back row. George Smith simply could not get into the game. An early sickening head clash did not help.
Then the Wallabies started to hint at a fightback. Shunning penalty goals, they eventually got James O'Connor into a dangerous area from a lineout. Dancing feet produced a try. It did not disguise the truth of the situation. His selection at No.10 has not worked.
In the second half, more pressure at the scrum. Alexander's replacement Sekope Kepu was acquainted with the grim feeling of moving backwards. The Wallabies talked about running the Lions off their legs, but their own were being sapped.
Corbisiero was heroic, in and out of the dark places, offering himself as a ball carrier and keeping the door shut around the fringes as much as you can against a player such as Genia. And when Robinson knocked on close to the line, it was Corbisiero who was on hand to help clear the lines. At that stage, the Lions led by 13 after Jonny Sexton's well-constructed try. George North's five-pointer came a few minutes later. It was beginning to resemble a slaughter; and that was confirmed when Jamie Roberts powered through a huge gap to lift the scoreboard to the 41-mark. Hats off to the tourists. They leave with significant respect earned by a mixture of power and skill in the big moments.

The Lions were magnificent last night. Their scrum completely exposed the Wallabies. They won the battle of the breakdown, helped in no small measure by Australia not replacing George Smith when he had been clearly knocked unconscious in a collision. Smith could barely walk unaided as he left the field for a concussion assessment, and was largely a passenger when he returned. What lay behind that assessment is something that the IRB must review.

Tully's last paragraph however suggests an uncertain future for Canterbury's favourite son:

There is another truism in this industry that does not change. Coaches that do not win enough games - or the significant games - get the call that they do not want but eventually expect. Big decisions, then, lie ahead for Australian rugby.

Robbie Deans' immediate coaching future is under threat. Jim Tucker is even more explicit about that in the Queensland Mail:

THE Robbie Deans era came to a catastrophic end Saturday night. If Saturday night's series-settling Test against the Lions was the most momentous rugby event in Australia since the 2003 World Cup final, the numbing defeat must come with World Cup-level consequences for coaches and players.
Dingo has had his shot. It is time to exit. This is not teary-eyed emotion after a 41-16 smacking. All emotion is out of it.
The clock ticks on every coach and it must be full-time for Deans now this series against a resilient and united British and Irish Lions side is lost.
Saturday night was a calamity because the Wallabies are so much better than that. The scrum was awful but a selection blooper has also doomed Deans.
He decided to play the might of the Lions without a specialist five-eighth wearing No.10. That's different to saying James O'Connor is a poor player.

The non-selection of Quade Cooper will come back to haunt Deans in the days and weeks ahead. Trying to manufacture a player for such a critical position was a huge tactical blunder. It's akin to Steve Hansen putting Ben Smith in the #10 jersey because he has been New Zealand's best outside back during Super Rugby.

And if the ARU does dispense with Aussie Bob's services, who will replace him? Will it be Ewen McKenzie, or will they go for another foreign coach and pick Jake White?

That's a debate for the next few days. Right now, the Lions can celebrate a fantastic series win, their first since South Africa in 1997. Warren Gatland's coaching star has risen to new heights. We can all now start looking forward to the Lions' next tour; to New Zealand in 2017.