KEY POINTS:
I took a phone call from an Australian journalist this week asking me to comment on this so-called resurrection of the Australian front row.
I say so-called because, regardless of what people are saying and writing after their narrow defeat to the Springboks last week, I don't believe the Wallabies are any better off from numbers 1 to 3 than they have been for the past couple of years.
When the All Blacks meet the old foe in Melbourne next week, we'll still have a massive advantage up front - you can't even begin to compare the likes of Al Baxter and Matt Dunning with Carl Hayman and Tony Woodcock.
They've been talking Dunning up in particular, saying he played superbly, and John Connolly said he came of age.
To my way of thinking any prop can play the first 40 to 60 minutes and keep up. The acid test comes in the last quarter; that takes its toll on any player in any position.
When Australia were hard on defence in those last minutes, when the Springboks landed those drop goals which were by no means a fluke, the front rowers, and especially Dunning, were quite lethargic and not doing much work at all.
It's still a problem area for them. They haven't got depth and they haven't got a good top-tier of players.
Even Rodney Blake, who played in the 'A' test against the Junior All Blacks last weekend, looked out of his depth. He's a good to average young prop but he's been out most of the season and he's still inexperienced.
Is there a good thing you can say about the Wallabies? If you're looking solely at the front row then, no, there is not.
Turn the question on to New Zealand. I've been asked a lot, "What if we lose Carl Hayman?"
Yes, he brings a lot to the team, he's a great leader, he works well and he's a superb lineout lifter, but if he went off and Neemia Tialata came on we lose very little. Tialata is a great tackler, does his work around the field and scrums well. You might lose two or three inches in the lineout lifting but that's all.
If you look around the props in the Tri Nations, Tialata is as good, if not better than anything outside of New Zealand. If you look at it that way, we're very well off. It's not like the locks, they're all intact and playing well.
John Schwalger looks a good prospect. He's mobile and if he stays in the system a bit longer his fitness will improve greatly. He's got a future but in saying that we're only judging him against the Canadians and there should be a dozen props in New Zealand that could have done a job against them.
The Wallabies though, they've barely got three that could do the job.
