Pre-match tension between Australia and New Zealand has reached fever pitch with the Wallabies forced to defend cheating claims on Tuesday.
Australian flanker Rocky Elsom laughed off former All Blacks prop John Drake's assertions that his side's scrum resorted to dirty tactics against the Springboks on Saturday night.
Speaking on New Zealand radio on Tuesday morning, the World Cup winning front-rower labelled the Wallabies weak at scrum time and claimed they manipulated the set-piece by constantly going to ground after impact.
"I think that's probably the last thing we want to do just because when the scrum gets collapsed we usually get penalised first," Elsom retorted in the build up to Saturday night's fierce showdown with the All Blacks
"So that probably wouldn't help us a whole lot."
Elsom praised the often maligned Wallabies front-row for their efforts against the world champion Springboks in Perth.
"(It was a) pretty complete performance from the front row," he said.
"I think they had a good stable platform the whole game. They weren't really worried too much so I think that was a great sign for them."
But the in-form backrower insists the pack is under no illusions heading into Saturday's Bledisloe blockbuster against an All Blacks scrum he believes is less predictable than the Springboks.
"I think that one thing about the New Zealand scrum is they usually opt to different tactics than the South Africans just because they don't rely on their size and strength as much as the South Africans do," Elsom explained.
Meanwhile, the All Blacks have bracketed Daniel Braid alongside skipper Richie McCaw at open-side flanker with a decision on the inspirational skipper's injured ankle to be made later in the week.
Elsom, man-of-the-match against the Boks, said the All Blacks will lose little if forced to insert Braid into the starting side.
"I think he's a tremendous player (and) you also get a bit of the affect where a guy that hasn't played for the All Blacks rises to the occasion," Elsom said.
"Possibly week in week out he wouldn't have the same effect that Richie would have but he definitely can mix it with the best of them."
He added: "You've got to be prepared for someone to be hard on the ball the whole time and I think whether Richie plays or Daniel plays you're going to get that."
"So that's something we're going to have to face whether (McCaw) plays or not."