WALLABIES prop Al Baxter, a man accustomed to the slings and arrows of criticism, especially in Bledisloe Cup week, made sure he didn't hurl any back at the All Blacks yesterday, instead arguing the New Zealand scrum surpasses the Springboks'.

Australia's most capped prop said that while the much maligned Australian scrum had enjoyed considerable improvement this year, the proper gauge will come only after it confronts the All Blacks' pack at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.

Although the Springboks have long prided themselves as the masters of scrummaging, Baxter said the Australian forward contingent was anticipating a far more difficult assignment this weekend than they encountered at Subiaco Oval last Saturday.

"The Springboks are more like eight big strong guys, as opposed to a strong pack, and they were not helped by [hooker] Schalk Brits not having been in the team a lot," Baxter said. "So in that Test we were dealing more with really big strong individuals, compared to the All Blacks, who really work well together as a pack.

"Their technique as a pack is probably much better than the Springboks'. I'm not wanting to be detrimental to the Springboks, because they are excellent scrummagers, but more from an individual strength and individual technique perspective, as opposed to a pack technique."

Baxter added that another reason for a rise in intensity in the opening Bledisloe Cup match was because the All Blacks will not be lulled into a false sense of security. "This will be a tougher test, because the All Blacks and England are the number one scrums in the world," he said. "In a way there was an element of surprise last week because as we are usually written off, the Springboks weren't expecting us to be competitive in that area. But the All Blacks would have been watching that Test, and so have more of an idea."

Considering the ridicule that has been directed towards Baxter and fellow Wallabies scrummagers from across the Tasman for years, they could be forgiven for being more antagonistic towards his neighbours.

After all, the New Zealand media has incessantly lampooned him, with one Kiwi newspaper recently stating that the Australian front row was about as useful and appetising as deep-fried Mars Bars. Wallabies props have even been compared to Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

But suddenly there may be a tinge of respect, with several New Zealand figures saying this week that what the Wallabies get up to at scrum-time is a bit dodgy. That indicates that there may be some caution.

Nonetheless, Baxter has grown so used to the barbs that he ignores them. "Obviously sometimes it [criticism] is disappointing and frustrating. It is not great when you read it," Baxter said. "But a lot of the time, you don't take a huge amount of notice to it. We're far more driven about wanting to do well for the team, for ourselves and for the Australian jersey … than trying to prove someone in the media or a commentator wrong.

"And you expect the barbs in these types of big weeks. There's always stuff thrown out in the media before big matches. You just come to expect that. We hear about it, and read it. But you laugh it off. It is actually a really busy week for us, and you don't have time to take notice of it … You become more internally focused because you have more to do."

But there has even been media praise, especially when they scored through Stirling Mortlock against the Springboks in the 44th minute, after taking the scrum option from a free kick.

"We didn't think about it at the time. It was only afterwards when there were several comments made about what occurred, and we thought back and said, 'Yeah, actually, wait a sec, that's different from what would have been three or four years ago'."