James Slipper is seen as the future of the Wallabies front-row © Getty Images

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Australia's scrum has improved enough to match the All Blacks in the third Bledisloe Cup Test at the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin on Saturday, James Slipper believes.

The Wallabies struggled to match South Africa and New Zealand at the set-piece throughout the Rugby Championship, and they struggled against Argentina in Perth, but Slipper said "we did OK" against the Pumas' pack to win the final match of the tournament in Rosario after withstanding a scrum onslaught in the opening minutes of the game.

Slipper said the Wallabies' 54-17 win against Argentina, after the epic early set-piece battle between the two packs, had given the Australian pack confidence heading to New Zealand. Slipper said the forwards for the first time this season had put their opponents on the back foot and "it was the first time the backs were running 100% into contact".

''That comes off good set-piece ball, so the key there is to complete your lineouts with great delivery and great scrums as well. I'm not saying we're going to dominate the All Blacks in the scrum but our main goal is to get the best ball possible for the backs.''

Slipper, whom Ewen McKenzie preferred to Benn Robinson in Rosario, received a yellow card in Rosario, as a result of a number of Australian infringements in the early scrum contest, said "you could see on the Argentinians' faces that they weren't happy with not scoring a try" and that had boosted the Wallabies as the they went on to produce their best performance of the year.

Slipper has earned favour from McKenzie for his work rate and speed across the ground, but he accepts that his career will be defined by consistency in the scrum and he knows he must perform strongly again when the Wallabies take the field against the All Blacks in Dunedin.

"Scrummaging is the No.1 priority job for a front-rower," Slipper said.

"I do feel like our scrum is an improvement throughout the year, and, for me personally, I feel like I'm getting through a lot of work around the field. But obviously scrums and the set-piece is my first job. "I still feel like I'm at the start of my career. This year has been great to have an opportunity to start a few games. I'm pretty happy with my form."

Follow live text commentary of the Bledisloe Cup Test between New Zealand and Australia on Saturday, October 19 from 7pm (NZDT), 5pm (AEDT) and 6am (GMT)