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WALLABIES tighthead prop Al Baxter concedes repeated scrum infringements contributed to the loss to the All Blacks in Auckland on Saturday night and it was something the team would need to address before the next Test against South Africa in Cape Town.
Baxter found himself offside with South African referee Craig Joubert for illegal binding.
As a result, the Wallabies were unable to use the scrum as an attacking platform.
"It certainly hurt momentum at certain times," Baxter said. "I guess as much as any penalty has a negative impact on the team's play."
Baxter said Joubert told him he was not binding high enough in the scrum.
"He (Joubert) was saying 'I need your bind higher on the opposition'," Baxter said.
"That's the communication I was getting. There was obviously a disconnect between what I thought I was doing and what was happening.
"He was saying my bind was in the wrong spot. It wasn't high enough on the body."
Asked whether the illegal bind was something he had been penalised for in the past, Baxter said: "Not recently."
Baxter had been regarded as a poor scrummager in the past, but he has improved his technique over the past few years.
"Yes and no," Baxter said when asked if he agreed with the suggestion he was still being penalised for his previous reputation.
"I think sometimes these things happen in games. You have to work out how best it doesn't happen again.
"We'll go back and check things out and see what we can change to make sure it doesn't happen again.
"We'll check out the vision, see what's happening and work on a few things to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Baxter, who was replaced by Ben Alexander in the 72nd minute, said he had not had any problems with Joubert in the past.
"He is a top level referee. He's been there plenty of times before. It's something we will have to look at and make sure we get it sorted out.
"It's always been pretty good. These things happen where he was interpreting something in a certain way and we'll just have to make sure it doesn't get interpreted that way again.
"It's one of those things. You play it out and do what you can and go from there."
The All Blacks have dominated the scrum against the Wallabies for several years and things won't get any easier when the Australians lock horns with the Springboks in three week's time.
"They (the All Blacks) are certainly an excellent scrum, but there are a lot of very fine scrums around the world," Baxter said.
"The South Africans have a very fine scrum. No matter who we play in the Tri-Nations, it's tough in the scrum.
"Both teams have different strengths and different weaknesses."
The Wallabies also experienced problems at the breakdown where New Zealand committed more numbers and were able to counter-ruck.
"First and foremost we have to target better at the breakdown," Baxter said.
"We have to get them away from the breakdown.
"They were effective at being able to get on the ground and slow the ball down. We have to target more effectively in the game."
Baxter said the Wallabies felt it was the game that got away after they led 13-3 at one stage in the first half and bombed at least one certain try.
"We feel really disappointed because we feel we gifted them the game," Baxter said.
"We got away to the start we wanted to, we were playing how we wanted to and then through penalties and ill discipline and a lack of continuity we felt like we gave them the game or let them back into it.
"They got their tails up and unfortunately we weren't able to claw back into it."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...015652,00.html
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