APART from the times when David Campese had bouts of foot-in-mouth disease, no Wallaby has been ridiculed more by the British media than prop Al Baxter.

This week, British newspapers have devoted hectares of space to Baxter, basically saying he is a hopeless front-rower who collapses scrums, and expressing astonishment that he is Australia's most capped prop. The argument is that with Baxter still playing, the Wallabies pack could be pulverised on Saturday as it was at Twickenham three years ago and in Marseilles at the World Cup last year, when the England pack was again invincible.

A lot of it has been brutal, personal and, for any sensitive soul, could easily have a detrimental effect. But, as with the sniping at Campese, the barrage of criticism of Baxter's scrummaging has not sent the amiable front-rower into a state of depression. Instead, he looks upon it as a bit of banter and fun in an otherwise tense England-Australia Test week.

Baxter is even happy he is the focus, because for a change the press are talking about one of his favourite subjects: scrummaging.

As expected from the No.1 member of the intelligentsia in this Wallabies camp - teammates say: "We don't Google it … we Baxter it" - the Waratahs front-rower treats it all philosophically.

"Even with the barrage I'm getting, it's actually quite nice to come to a country where scrummaging is talked about," Baxter said. "There's no way through the year that the scrums would have taken this focus. You come to England and you know you're going to talk about the set piece … and that's good."

But are the constant barbs hurtful?

"You don't have to agree with what people are writing, but they are entitled to voice what they think. All you have to do is roll with it and try to do your talking on the field, rather than through the press.

"It really doesn't worry me that much. I've been in professional rugby coming up to 10 years, and whether it's good stuff or bad stuff, you have to handle it. If you believe it all, you get yourself in a lot of trouble.

"Most importantly, it hasn't affected in any way how I am preparing for this Test."

Baxter admitted one critical article by former England second-rower Paul Ackford in last weekend's Sunday Telegraph, wasn't tossed away in disgust but had been kept among his luggage, mainly because of a "good" photo of a scrum that accompanied it.

At least there were nice words about Baxter at the England camp on Tuesday, with his direct opponent, loose-head prop Andrew Sheridan, who has done several demolition jobs on the Wallabies, surprised the Australian had been criticised for so long.

"I've watched quite a few Australian games recently, and he [Baxter] is going well," Sheridan said. "Their scrum has been performing against what I consider the best pack in the world - New Zealand. And with the new laws, he seems to be getting around the park very quickly."

England scrum coach Graham Rowntree argued that Baxter and his fellow forwards were not as hopeless as many made out.

"Our pack's changed and their pack has changed," Rowntree said. "They have improved significantly, while you have to remember that we haven't been shoving people around. And every time I've been in a game at Twickenham when we have been expected to dominate in that area, we haven't delivered."

Whether this is a snow job or not will be revealed on Saturday.