KEY POINTS:
CARDIFF - The All Blacks will pack down in their last scrum under the existing rugby laws against Wales here on Sunday morning (NZT) but prop Carl Hayman doesn't believe change will impact on his team's mastery there.
From January 1 all international rugby games will operate under
a new, safer law introduced by the International Rugby Board in which opposing props must touch each other on the shoulder to reduce the impact of the "hit".
New Zealand team have confirmed their place as the best scrummaging team in the world on this tour, making life particularly uncomfortable for the vaunted French front row in both test wins in France.
Hayman said the new laws wouldn't take much adjusting too and wouldn't affect how the All Blacks went about their work.
"I don't see it being a big change because you will still have the power element after contact," he said.
"It will make things safer and that has to be good for the players."
Forwards coach Steve Hansen believed his pack had made a statement in the France tests, with their dominance in the set piece impacting on the "psyche" of the French players.
"We're very happy with the way we've scrummed here, we came out in that series," he said.
The scrum law changes would be good for the game, Hansen believed, giving referees more clarity on their call, which would now be "crouch, touch, engage".
The All Blacks deliberately completed a short scrummaging session today on a boggy surface today to prepare for the shifty turf at Millennium Stadium.
Hayman hoped it wouldn't impact on the scrum battle, against a Welsh front row bookended by shaggy-haired props Duncan and Adam Jones.
Duncan Jones admitted scrums had gone down in certain parts of the field in recent tests, requiring the referee to reset them 5m to the left or right of the disturbed area.
Meanwhile, Hayman pronounced himself physically ready for the test, which will be his fourth from four on this tour.
The key, as he discovered in the Super 14, was training within himself in the early part of the week to help recover from a previous game.
"It's just being aware that it's no good playing a game in the middle of the week, and saving yourself for Saturday," said Hayman, who joins first five-eighth Daniel Carter and flanker Richie McCaw in starting every game on tour.
"As the tour goes on, more and more the emphasis goes on getting right later in the week.
"It's hard to keep at the same level through the whole tour."
- NZPA