KEY POINTS:
MONTPELLIER - Coach John Connolly has praised Al Baxter's fightback after bearing the brunt of criticism for the Wallabies' scrum disintegration two years ago.
Few would have backed Baxter to be a starting tighthead prop in Australia's 2007 World Cup opener on Saturday after the dark days of the 2005 European tour.
Many pundits believed the NSW architect's cards were marked never to be selected again after he was sin-binned for repeated scrum collapses in a humiliating loss to England at Twickenham.
But Connolly has shown faith in him and suggests the 30-year-old was just unfortunate to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when Australia's ticking time bomb finally exploded.
"We went though an era where we never concentrated on the scrum and lineout and that was his (Baxter's) problem," Connolly said.
"We just had eight minutes to train in the scrums and our lineout and consequently the rest of the world jumped ahead in the scrum and lineout.
"He's done very well (since). I thought he had a very good Super 14 for NSW and in fact he's done pretty well at training."
Baxter's fierce desire was shown at a training session this week when he and fellow Waratahs forward David Lyons engaged in some push and shove during a mauling drill.
Since Connolly took over from Eddie Jones in early 2006, he and forwards lieutenant Michael Foley have spent far more time attempting to improve the Wallabies forwards' technical skills and set pieces.
Connolly said standards had started to slip after the 2001 series success over the British Lions.
"We've moved miles ahead from where we were," Baxter said.
"We've never had a technical scrum coach or line-out coach before and to have someone dedicated to the set pieces and be as proficient and detailed as Michael is absolutely brilliant."
Baxter was thrown into the deep end in the 2003 World Cup when Ben Darwin suffered a career-ending neck injury in the semi-final upset over New Zealand.
He has gone on to play 47 tests and is a mere four caps away from joining his Waratahs coach, Ewen McKenzie (51), as Australia's most-capped prop.
Baxter started in 24 of his first 29 tests until the England debacle and has since come off the bench in all but four of his last 18 Tests.
Despite being close to notching a half-century of tests, the prop is has yet to score a try and would love to open his account against Japan on Saturday.
"It's one of those things, I was ready to score early this year off a driving maul (against Fiji) before a certain hooker, who shall remain unnamed, ripped the ball away," he said.
Controversially selected ahead of Queenslander Rodney Blake in the 30-man World Cup squad due to his better ability to cover loose-head, Baxter must now try to Guy Shepherdson at bay with a dominant game to hold his spot for the key second group match against Wales.
- AAP
