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AL Baxter wasn't totally surprised he was taken off the field 30 minutes into the Test against the All Blacks on Saturday night.
After being repeatedly penalised for illegal binding in the 22-16 loss to the All Blacks in Auckland five weeks ago, Baxter entered the Sydney Test under intense scrutiny.
All Blacks coach Graham Henry had taken scrum guru Mike Cron to a meeting with South African referee Jonathan Kaplan in the lead-up to the match because of his concerns about the way the Wallabies, and in particular Baxter, scrummaged.
So when Kaplan awarded a free kick to the All Blacks for Baxter collapsing a scrum, coach Robbie Deans got out the shepherd's crook and hooked him, injecting rookie tighthead prop Ben Alexander into the fray.
"You never like to come off early, but I guess when I wasn't performing as well as I should have, then they get someone else on," Baxter said.
"Ben has been playing really well in training and has gone well every time he has come on. They knew they had a good back-up option on the bench.
"If I had been performing better, it wouldn't have been an issue."
There was speculation Deans might go to the bench early, with a few senior forwards under pressure to perform.
Asked whether he had intended to replace Baxter at the 30-minute mark, Deans said: "We were going to go the moment we encountered difficulty with the referee, which we did.
"That was a contributing factor, but we always anticipated getting Benny Alexander into the game as well.
"Benny is going really well. He's done well in every instance. He's comfortable in that role."
Deans' praise for Alexander will add to the sense that it is only a matter of time before he replaces Baxter as the starting tighthead on a permanent basis, perhaps as early as the Test against the world champion Springboks in Perth on Saturday.
But while Baxter has struggled against the All Blacks, he performed well against the Springboks in the Wallabies loss in Cape Town two weeks ago, although most observers believe the scrum went better when Alexander and reserve hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau came off the bench.
"It's the scrummaging style of the opposition, I've got to say," Baxter said. "The New Zealand side likes to scrummage far lower.
"It's frustrating. In the previous All Black-Springbok matches, there were a lot of collapses and resets just like with us. When you play the All Blacks there seems to be a lot of resets because they pack low. Unfortunately, that's frustrating for all involved.
"When you play against the Springboks they pack a bit high. They are bigger blokes, so I guess they can't get as low.
"When we played the Boks there was one or two collapses in the whole game. Different teams scrummage differently and you get a different result."
Baxter said he was not apprehensive about retaining his starting position, although he realises he is on notice.
"I'm not on edge," Baxter said. "I've got to lift my performance. It has certainly given me a kick to make sure I perform better at training and make sure I perform better when I get a game.
"I don't think it's a huge issue. It has been frustrating, but it hasn't been an issue at Super 14 and it wasn't an issue last year in Test rugby.
"It's just something that has come up in the last two New Zealand games. Career-wise, it's nothing. Hopefully, move on to the next game."
New Zealander Bryce Lawrence will referee the Springboks Test, but Baxter did not think that the scrum would be officiated any differently.
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