KEY POINTS:
What is this? Some kind of good prop/bad prop routine?
Is Tony Woodcock the real deal or a fad?
It's been a confusing year for the image of the All Black No 1 who got an image makeover from others even though his game remained the same.
There have been frontrowers in rugby history with all sorts of dodgy form _ chompers and stompers, pokers and jokers, a bloke who escaped to the outback, Frenchmen who put garlic between their teeth and their hands in even darker places, and so on and so forth. By comparison, Woodcock is not only top of the props but also on the level.
Then suddenly (cue Jaws music: da da da da da da): he's a villain and, worse still, not villainous enough.
The former Aussie frontrower Andrew Blades claimed Woodcock's scrum power was a myth, then the South Africans claimed his scrum technique was illegal. All this really shows is that opponents have Woodcock on the mind.
When you compare the All Black and Wallaby lineups for tonight's test, there are so many uncanny similarities.
Both have terrific No 7s (although Daniel Braid can hardly be put in the George Smith class at this point), unproven loose forward combos, touches of world class and robustness at lock, dodgy halfbacks, outstanding and creative first five-eighths, rookie second five-eighths, new centres, plus one power wing and one who is zappier. Add to that the raw-boned starting hookers who are emerging from shadows and it is snap in many ways.
But the Wallabies don't have a Tony Woodcock.
And, for that matter, they don't have a Mike Cron _ the scrum doctor who has revolutionised the art and, in an unorthodox way, ranks as one of New Zealand's finest and most influential rugby coaches.
The scrum is potentially the major point of difference between the sides in Sydney, and Woodcock is the key.
I remember Woodcock's name being uttered with respect by friend and foe when he was still a relatively unheralded junior.
People around North Harbour described how coaches would ask Woodcock to do this and that and without any fuss, Woodcock would go out on the park and simply do this and that.
A couple of coaches from other unions _ former frontrowers to boot _ also mentioned him in glowing terms as the prop to watch for.
Both Blades and the Springboks have been whistling in the dark, and the respectful words out of the Wallaby camp this week are clearly designed to placate rather than rile up this implacable bulldozer.
Because, despite what you may read, players do read the press and are perhaps especially interested in what opponents (rather than the journalists) say.
I happened to be in the Blues' Eden Park dressing room this year a week or so after they had lost to the Brumbies.
Everything had been cleared away apart from two bits of paper taped to a wall near the door. They were the media reports in which the Brumbies suggested the Blues were ripe to be beaten and Blades bladed Woodcock.
It's possible that North Harbour's frontrow diamond read the Blades' article.
Then again, Woodcock has never appeared as an overly emotional demolition man. He might have feigned interest, and trudged on by.
