Indeed, they don't call the Wallabies the Wobblies for nothing.
However, the running gag could hit a flat note when the Wallabies face the All Blacks in the opening round of the Rugby Championship on Saturday in Sydney, with the introduction of new laws that radically redefine the rules of engagement at scrums.
The International Rugby Board claims the laws - to be introduced in the northern hemisphere in September with global application by 2014 - will make the game safer for front rowers and result in fewer scrum re-sets and the resultant, often apparently arbitrary, penalties.
The IRB says the laws should de-power and stabilise the scrum by replacing its current engagement sequence of "crouch, touch, set" with "crouch, bind, set".
Under the new laws, props will have to first bind with their opposite number, gripping his jersey only on the back or side and not on the arm, chest, sleeve or collar.
The front-rows then have to hold this bind until the referee - Craig Joubert on Saturday night - says "set", at which point the opposing packs can push forward.
In theory, the change should see a significant dynamic-to-static shift, away from powerful first-hit collisions to a contest of correct technique.
Put simply, the first-strike coercion factor has been removed from scrums.
The Wallabies are upbeat about the change.
"It will go back a little to what it was maybe 10 or 15 years ago in terms of guys technically having to learn how to create a drive together as a unit, off a standing start," Wallabies scrum coach and former test prop Andrew Blades said this week.
"Because we haven't been one of the bigger packs in world rugby, that pure smacking in off the engagement is something that's worked against us.
"Whereas now, it's going to become a more technical scrummaging area and that's where our guys will be able to adapt and get into a good position off the engagement."
SETTLED COMBINATIONS
Blades noted that front row combinations would be important under the new laws, a comment perhaps explaining the shock dumping of 59-Test prop Benn Robinson from the Wallabies squad and the inclusion of uncapped 21-year-old Scott Sio, who has developed a formidable combination with Wallabies tighthead Ben Alexander at the ACT Brumbies this season.
The All Blacks have said very little about the new scrum laws. Tellingly, though, they released hooker Dan Coles, 26, to play provincial rugby this weekend.
Coles was the starting hooker in the June internationals against France. His omission suggests All Blacks coach Steve Hansen also sees the merits in having established front row combinations under the new scrum laws.
Hansen has selected props Owen Franks and Tony Woodcock to start with 34-year-old Andrew Hore taking the hooking duties.
One supposedly minor footnote to the new scrum laws is a requirement that the scrumhalf put the ball in straight.
Of course, they are already supposed to do this anyway, but the IRB wants referees to keep an even closer eye on the feed.
There has been some suggestion a straight feed into a static scrum could see the return of hookers lifting one of their feet to strike at the ball.
Indeed, incumbent Wallabies hooker Stephen Moore believes old school hooking will be back in vogue.
"Traditionally the hooker's scrummaged more as a second tighthead I suppose, without taking your feet of the ground," he said at the Wallabies training camp this week.
"It's a little bit different in that regard, having to lift your foot to strike. We'll have to work out our timing."
FIRST TASTE
South Africa will get their first taste of the news laws against scrummaging powerhouse Argentina in Saturday's second game of the Rugby Championship in Johannesburg.
In fact, many coaches might look more to that game for insights into how the new scrum laws work in practice.
Springbok scrum coach Pieter de Villiers said the revamped laws would represent a "massive change" for players.
"I think most players worldwide have been practising their trade for the last 10 years and gone through their whole professional rugby with a certain way of scrumming. It's a big change for all players and they need to adapt," he said.
He made the interesting observation that coaches could go to the bench early to compensate for additional fatigue in the front row.
At this stage, the new scrum laws are just words, a theoretical construct waiting to be tested in match-play.
It remains to be seen how the new physical and mental demands on front-rowers will affect the overall selection and composition of test sides, or, indeed, the tempo of the game.
However, the removal of the initial scrum hit - so expertly used as a weapon of intimidation by the likes of New Zealand and England - could one day be looked back on as a huge lucky break for the Wallabies.
The Rugby Championship opener also doubles as the first of three Bledisloe Cup fixtures. The Bledisloe, held by New Zealand since 2003, is the most coveted prize in trans-Tasman rugby.
The All Blacks have largely kept their counsel on the new scrum laws, but that could quickly change if the Wallabies can parlay some fortuitous law-making into a winning advantage on Saturday night.
(Editing by Nick Mulvenney)
