Andrew Slack: Rejuvenated Wallabies front up

Envy is an awful affliction but any front-rower truly worth his cauliflower ears would have been disgusted when Greg Holmes sprinted 55 metres to score a try in the Wallabies win against Ireland in Perth last month.

Mind you, there would have been a few three-quarters, past and present, also with a green tinge about them. In this statistics-engulfed era, I wonder if anybody has been able to discover if it was the longest distance run by a try-scoring prop in the history of test rugby.

When No 8 Greg Cornelsen scored his four tries on the one afternoon against the All Blacks at Eden Park 28 years ago, the combined yardage he travelled with ball in hand wouldn't have added up to half Holmes' journey. Either way, the 23-year-old Queensland loosehead ensured his place in Australian rugby folklore when he embarrassed the Irish backs to seal a Wallaby win.

Tomorrow he has the opportunity to demonstrate whether his greatest rugby contribution will be as a Trivial Pursuit answer, or as one of the pillars behind the revival of a Wallaby team emerging from the extended slump of 2005.

With the George Gregan debate silenced by the captain's improved displays, there are few Australians who doubt the Wallabies backline's capacity to match or exceed any opposition in the world - but it was the embarrassingly-exposed deficiencies of the men up front last year which has supporters nervous.

Despite a three-from-three winning record in 2006, certain anxieties, unlike some of the last season's personnel, remain.

Matt Dunning, Bill Young, Brendan Cannon and Stephen Moore haven't been sighted in gold this season, while Al Baxter has slipped in the pecking order - although coach John Connolly has been impressed by Baxter's work ethic and improvement, and the Waratah remains in the 22-man squad.

An ageing England and a perky Ireland were reasonable examinations for the new-look front row and while there were moments of trepidation, the consensus was that the combined talents of Holmes, Baxter, Tai McIsaac, Jeremy Paul, Guy Shepherdson and Rodney Blake had, more or less, held their own.

There is reserved optimism that the intelligence and intensity of new scrum coach Michael Foley will have rubbed off on the front men but nobody in Australia is ever fully convinced about anything rugby related until it's been tested by New Zealand.

As such, evidence from Jade Stadium should underline the progress or otherwise of Australia's scrummaging - but there is also the odd voice suggesting a few other areas had better be up to scratch or a dominant scrum and rampaging, runaway props could count for nought.

Former Wallaby flanker Chris Roche is concerned that Connolly's desire for a beefed-up pack, which forces George Smith to share No 8 duties, could cost the Wallabies big-time at the breakdown.

Roche fears Richie McCaw might get a free rein and it is perhaps in this area where the match will be won or lost.

Exactly what area is going to be the most crucial is a matter of opinion, but the safest prediction is that the team which dominates the final quarter of the match should emerge the winner.

The Wallabies have played two teams who were each at the end of long seasons, with Ireland having also endured a physically taxing fortnight in New Zealand.

The Wallabies have taken charge in the last 20 minutes of all three of their tests so far. It's hard to imagine the All Blacks fading.

Under Connolly's new regime, there have been many external observations of how happy the Wallaby players appear and how much more relaxed they seem to be than when Eddie Jones was running the show.

It's much easier to look happy and relaxed with a three-from-three record, than one which reads one from nine.

The real count begins now.

* Andrew Slack is a former Wallaby centre