Stephen Moore sat in the stands at Twickenham on November 12, 2005 and watched as the Wallabies scrum was penalised six times, Al Baxter was sin-binned and Matt Dunning was taken from the field in a neck brace.

On his first Wallabies tour, the young hooker must have wondered what the future held for him as Australia lost their seventh straight Test match and their set-piece was rendered a laughing stock.

"There was a huge amount spoken about it after, rightly or wrongly," Moore says now.

"You never like to see that happen, the boys go out there and give a hundred per cent.

"England got some really good momentum there in the scrum and they capitalised on that.

"A massive factor in any game is the perception, particularly in the referee's mind, of which scrum is dominant.

"That day they were certainly perceived to be the dominant scrum."

Five years later, Moore was in the stands again, this time at the Millennium Stadium as Australia's scrum was dominated by Wales.

Forced to withdraw at the last minute with a back niggle, the 27-year-old could only watch as the Wallabies were welcomed back to the northern hemisphere with a good, old fashioned lesson in scrummaging.

In between those two Tests, the Brumbies No.2 has been at the centre of Australian rugby's attempts to earn the Wallabies' scrum respect.

It's a mission that had, to a large extent, seemed to have been accomplished by former set-piece coach Michael Foley.

Thrown one of the toughest jobs in world rugby by new coach John Connolly in 2006 after the rock bottom experience of the previous year, Foley has said he inherited a "downhearted" group that Australian rugby had let down.

He was able to exit the job two-and-a-half years later declaring Australia's forwards had "buried a demon".

"The philosophies he brought to the table and his technical knowledge brought a lot to the group and our scrummaging really improved in that period," Moore says.

"He knew you were going to become a better scrummager so we worked really hard on it at that time and we got some good results on the field, which is the most important thing."

They didn't come without hiccups, though, the most notable on the game's biggest stage in 2007.

An Andrew Sheridan led smash-up in the Rugby World Cup quarter-final against England in Marseille became another turning point for the Wallabies pack.

"That 2007 quarter-final was a similar sort of game to 2005 as far as the scrum goes," Moore says.

"I did play in that game and certainly learned a lot that day and it wasn't a result we were after.

"When you don't get a result, the scrum didn't go well, you can go one of two ways there."

It went the way of burying the demons, Foley's statement of triumph coming after the Wallabies had exacted some revenge on the Red Rose at Twickenham in 2008 with a dominant scrum and Moore the player of the match.

"To come here in 2008 and turn it around a bit was certainly very satisfying for the guys involved," Moore says.

"That tour was good for us as far as the scrum went.

"We changed a bit of perception up in this part of the world about how the scrum was going.

"You certainly don't like to hang your hat on any one particular game, you've got to constantly evolve and try and be consistent.

"That's something we're still working on."

Foley stayed on with the Wallabies when Connolly was replaced by Robbie Deans but took a job with the NSW Waratahs after the 2008 tour, citing the effect on his family of the travel.

Players were reportedly disappointed he was leaving, a subject which still makes them uncomfortable.

"I can't really comment on that," Moore says.

"That's the way things panned out."

To fill the void Australia initially turned to the enemy, lining up World Cup winning Englishman Trevor Woodman.

When he was lured to a club rugby job at home, the ARU hired former Argentina and Wallabies prop Patricio Noriega, the man currently in the hot seat.

It's often said Australia lacks the passion for the scrum that is found in England, France, South Africa and Argentina.

Noriega embodies it.

"Being from that Latin, Argentinean mentality of scrummaging, there's a lot of passion involved there and you can see it in his eyes every time he addresses us about the scrum, it's coming straight from the heart," Moore says.

"That's the way they think about scrummaging.

"He's showing us what it means to him and I think that really rubs off on the boys and we take scrummaging very seriously."

But Noriega has had his share of train wrecks, most notably when an inexperienced front row went off the rails against England in Perth this year, and last weekend in Cardiff.

Once again questions are being asked, the UK press are getting a laugh and the Wallabies forwards are under the pump heading into a Test at Twickenham against Sheridan and co.

For the Australian scrum, it has sometimes seemed like all journey and no destination.

Moore says a youth policy that has fast-tracked the likes of rising star James Slipper has made consistency tough.

"It's just happened that we've brought a hell of a lot of front-rowers through the program and they've been exposed to Test rugby very early on in their professional careers," Moore says.

"Some of them are playing more Tests than Super 14.

"It's not easy for a front-rower. There's usually a bit more of a progression there before you do get exposed to those types of scenarios.

"As a group you don't like to see what happened when England came in June, but the guys involved are certainly going to be better for that, even if there's some short-term pain there."

Plenty of solutions have been mooted to solve Australia's problem, among them importing South African or Argentine youngsters with scrummaging in their blood.

In the meantime, much will be revealed in Australia's clash with England on Saturday (0130 Sunday AEDT).

Whether last weekend against Wales was a minor slip-up will be one thing.

Whether Australia even needs a strong scrum, given the attacking brilliance of their backs, might be another.

One certainty is that, come fulltime, the scrum will be a talking point.

"Maybe we don't talk about it as much when we're at home," Moore says.

"It's been talked about this week. A lot's been said and now we have to go out and do it."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP