Rookie prop James Slipper will start just his second Test on Saturday night (Sunday morning AEDT), but he's already fed up with the Wallaby scrum's bad reputation.

The 21-year-old rising star has vowed to end the bad rap the Australian set piece has been getting, and which coach Robbie Deans says has been unduly influencing referees.

Slipper faced a baptism of fire against Italian strongman Martin Castrogiovanni in his Florence run-on debut and will be up against a front row rated among the world's best at the Stade de France.

"It's something I've really taken pride in, trying to get rid of this reputation that Australia has a bad scrum," Slipper said.

"It seems that everywhere you look most of the media is about our scrum and we're more than just our scrum.

"Our scrum's been working really hard throughout the year."

It hasn't been a vintage 12 months for Australian scrummaging with well documented smash-ups against England at home and Wales at the Millennium Stadium three weeks ago.

Loosehead Benn Robinson, rated one of the world's best No.1s in recent years, has found himself on the Australian bench while Slipper has revelled in the European contests.

"It was really bad at the start of the year, I'll admit that," the youngster said of Australia's scrum.

"Against England we got torn apart in the June Tests at home.

"From where we started it's been a big improvement and we're all looking forward to really stepping up and getting rid of this tag."

That's something Robinson and tighthead Ben Alexander had seemingly achieved before the form slump this year, and Slipper says the Wallaby forwards can bounce back again.

"In years gone by we've come back from a bad scrum," he said.

"Benny Robinson and Benny Alexander had a really good scrum this time last year and really took it to Wales and other teams and that was a real attacking weapon for us.

"This year hasn't gone to plan but we're gradually improving so that's the key.

"We'll get there."

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