Al Baxter's scrummaging may be in question, but Australia's much-maligned tight-head prop proved he has the hide of an ox by laughing off criticism of his front-row failings.
The 31-year-old has been in the spotlight all week as he prepares to lock horns once again with destructive England loose-head Andrew Sheridan, the Australian front row's tormentor-in-chief.
Baxter has won 61 caps for the Wallabies but is chiefly remembered in England for being out-scrummaged in the 2003 World Cup final and over-powered by Sheridan at Twickenham in 2005.
On that occasion, Baxter was sent to the sin-bin for collapsing the scrum as he struggled to cope with Sheridan's destructive power. Sheridan was at his wrecking-ball best again in last autumn's World Cup quarter-final as the Wallaby pack, featuring Guy Shepherdson and latterly Baxter at tight-head, crumbled under England's ferocious scrummaging.
With that history, the prospect of Baxter's re-acquaintance with Sheridan has dominated the build-up to Saturday's Cook Cup clash at Twickenham.
The Wallabies arrived in London on Sunday to discover one critic claiming their props did not have "an ounce of credibility" on the world stage. But Baxter just smiled and pointed out how nice it was for the front row to take some of the attention away from "luvvies" in the back division.
"It's actually quite nice coming to a country where the set piece is actually talked about," said Baxter. "In the southern hemisphere, perhaps not as much in South Africa, but in Australia and New Zealand it is a sideshow. The guys like Matt Giteau and Lote Tuiqiri get all the attention. It is good when you turn up and get talked about!
"Okay, I don't like it in terms of the negative stuff - but you come to England and you know you're going to talk about the set pieces. As a front rower I think it is one of the more important aspects of the game and it is a real contest and that it is an important part of the battle.
"The criticism doesn't really worry me. I've been a professional rugby player for coming up to 10 years now. I'm focusing on what I'm good at, which is playing rugby so I'm not reading the papers. It really hasn't affected how I'm preparing for this game."
England's scrum coach Graham Rowntree is convinced the Wallabies pack this Saturday is a vastly improved unit to the scrum that crumbled in Marseille. Rowntree believes the work his opposite number Michael Foley has been doing is now beginning to pay off and he refused to write off the Wallabies' scrum.
In the 13 months since that World Cup quarter-final, Stephen Moore has developed into an abrasive scrummaging hooker while Benn Robinson has come into the team at loose-head.
Baxter plays alongside them both at the NSW Waratahs, which helps, but he also thinks the focus is now firmly on the scrum like never before. "Having a dedicated coach in Michael Foley, the emphasis is on making scrummaging a legitimate contest as opposed to being just a re-start," he said.
Baxter insisted facing Sheridan this weekend will not be his biggest personal challenge - but accepted it promises to be a major litmus test for the Wallaby scrum.
"We definitely feel like we've improved but we seriously sat down before this tour and said, 'This is going to be a real test and this is going to be an indication of where we're at'. We've had the All Blacks and the Italians. We have the English, then the French and Welsh. They're all great scrummaging sides and they all pride themselves on their scrummaging."