Are Australia really that weak in the forwards?

Are Australia really that weak in the forwards?

Looking at a likely forwards lineup of Robinson, Sharpe, Alexander, Douglas, Horwill, Mowan, Hooper & Palu I'm starting to think we may be re-visiting Durban 09 again where we underestimated the boks upfront power and got royally shafted. The AUS front row looks strong, they won't shirk and if Douglas plays especially then I think the lions will have their work cut out in the scrum... he's a beast.

Its a massive pack... near 920kg. and with Mowan & Horwill they will have a solid lineout.

I can see AUS being dominant on the floor with Hooper so our front five power is especially important. I just don't see through it.
Lets take a look at a likely Lions pack... Corbisiero, Youngs, Jones, Jones, O'Connell, Croft, Warburton & Heaslip. Can they really dominate the above for physicality and the scrum?

Hibbard has been throwing so badly he's too much of a risk. Corbisiero needs to start as Vunipola will be exploited... the Aussies know his weaknesses in the scrum and will look to exploit him.

Its so important for the lions to be dominant upfront as if we had parity only... their backs vs. our backs... we'd lose. Its that simple... the odd game we might win... but 2 out of 3, not a chance.
When you go through their backs they have superior players in most positions,  Folau and Ioane on the wings, Genia, O'Connor and Beale. Ashley-Cooper (their great servant). It makes me nervous for the team.

There not weak in the forwards

They are comparatively weak in the scrum, but not as weak as some assume - it is an area the Lions can target.

Their first team has always had a decent, stable scrum. Their 2nd choice is less strong (obviously). If their 1st choice front row plays against the Lions then I expect either parity or a little bit of dominance from the Lions, but not total annihilation in the scrum like some seem to be expecting.

Aus manage to play and beat SA forwards fairly regularly so probably not that weak at all. Its just that their backs have usually been their strength so we concentrate on them.

As wales606 said, don't think the Wallabies are any weaker in their forwards than other sides. I think they lack techniques to be a consistent scrummage force, probably due to their style of play where scrums are not the begin and end all of power, and obviously they only have one pack that can hold their own, next tier's pretty powder puff in scrums, but as individual players in their positions they're not noticeably weaker than their counterparts in the open.

Agree with the OP, I don't think the Lions will get anywhere near the supremacy up front that some think.

Gatland loves to attack with set moves from the lineout so that will be a key battle.

The worrying thing for me is that our pack is not as dominant as we need it to be, our openside is still on average to below form and that means at best the game will come down to our backs vs. theres.

When AUS gets parity in the tight they generally win.

No. This will be a hard battle up front.  I think parity at best and the set piece will be critical.

I posted on another thread that the days of the Australian scrum getting destroyed like they did by England a while back are long gone.

Whilst it still not be their strongest part of game then they are not as weak as some (hopefully not the Lions) assume.

I think the one thing they don't have is strength in depth in the scrum. They have a first choice front five out which helps them a lot.