Scott Sio has warned the Wallabies scrum against complacency after providing a rare positive in last weekend's Bledisloe Cup belting.
Australia were comprehensively outmatched in all departments by New Zealand in the 54-34 defeat - except the set-piece, which stood up well and provides the team with some sort of foundation to build on in Saturday's second Test in Dunedin.
All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick admitted they were "outsmarted", conceding two penalties and collapsing a number of scrums as they struggled with referee Wayne Barnes' instructions and interpretations.
It was just the third time the front-row combination of Sio, Stephen Moore and Allan Alaalatoa started together, and comes after the Wallabies were soundly beaten in that area in their last Test against Italy.
"We had our moments," Sio told AAP.
"We had good scrums and ones we really need to improve on. There's just little adjustments we probably need to make across the front row, which is good.
"You can see we're really just trying to work against the pressure together and stay aggressive.
"It's great to solve a lot of the issues we had in June but we're forever improving."
More improvement is essential this week.
New Zealand rugby fans are filthy with how their side let in 28 unanswered points from the Wallabies in the second half and are demanding a full and complete 80-minute performance at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
Sio expects All Blacks scrum doctor Mike Cron will have spent all week trying to figure out what went wrong.
World Cup-winning hooker Dane Coles (concussion) is also in line for a return, possibly off the bench, in what would be his 50th Test.
"I think we're going to see a big battle there in the set piece," Sio said.
"I'm sure they're going back to the drawing board this week and seeing where they can improve.
"We probably expect them to come out a little bit harder. We're going to come in and we're going to have to bring it too."
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