The most crucial Test of Wallabies coach Robbie Deans' reign has been overshadowed by All Blacks coach Graham Henry questioning whether rugby is any good as a spectacle.

As Australia and New Zealand prepared for an ANZ Stadium showdown which could decide the Bledisloe Cup, and will virtually end the Tri Nations hopes of one of the sides, Henry reacted to the game's most recent kicking epidemic with a call for rule changes.

The boot of South African five-eighth Morne Steyn has arguably been the tournament's most influential feature so far, with the No.10 kicking eight and then seven penalty goals to ensure victories over the All Blacks in Durban and Australia in Cape Town.

Rugby's trial of new rules appeared to be dead in the water when, after intense opposition from northern hemisphere unions, the International Rugby Board adopted a watered-down version of the game's experimental law variations (ELVs) in May.

Crucially, the short-arm sanction for most breakdown offences was left out, and the predictable result has been less running rugby.

"The product that you're looking at I think needs attention, quite frankly," Henry told a Sydney press conference on Friday.

" ... The product's not too great and that's disappointing.

" ... Maybe if you had a mark every time the ball was kicked in the air, no matter where it was on the pitch, you could have a scrum back or a free-kick from that mark.

"It may make the game a bit more entertaining.

"I think we need to think outside the square about how we can change the game so it's more enjoyable to play and better to watch."

Asked if New Zealand would lobby the IRB in time for rule changes to be made in a two-year window before the next World Cup, Henry said: "We're always looking at trying to do that as part of the ongoing process."

Henry's captain, Richie McCaw, said his main focus was on playing the game as it is currently governed.

But he also added: "At the moment you get rewarded for putting the ball in the air and playing at the right end of the field and forcing teams into mistakes and maybe that is something that needs to be looked at.

" ... I think you've got to be rewarded for having the skill to use the ball in hand."

Henry conceded southern hemisphere rugby needed an entertaining game on Saturday night.

"Yeah, it probably does," he said.

Deans stopped short of backing Henry but said it was unsurprising the removal of the sanctions ELV had resulted in more kicking.

"When you look back at the World Cup in `07, it was always a possibility, particularly when you've got a side like South Africa who are so able to play the game that way," Deans said.

"They essentially won the World Cup in 2007 without playing.

"There is a lot of kicking but the kicking has improved as well."

Deans said the current laws needed to be given a chance through better policing.

"I think we're missing the opportunity to keep people on their feet (at the breakdown)," he said.

"If we do that we'll get the benefit of the laws the way they are currently ... It will provide more scope to play."

The debate is not expected to affect Saturday's gate, with more than 70,000 tickets believed to be have been sold already.

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