AUSTRALIA'S dominance at the breakdown, France's inability to use their Parisian home-ground advantage and the Wallabies forwards wanting to prove they can back up after their Twickenham scrum heroics should help Australia to their third Test victory in a row, according to former NSW coach Ewen McKenzie.

McKenzie, who moved to Paris four months ago to coach Stade Francais, told the Herald he had taken a close interest in the Wallabies tour and believed success was imminent at Stade de France on Saturday night.

"France got criticised a bit for playing a kicking game against Argentina, so they will feel some compulsion to use the ball a bit," McKenzie said. "But the contest will be at the breakdown, where Australia are doing very well. The scrum will be important, but the winning of the game will be at the breakdown.

"I believe the success the Wallabies have had in recent times at the contest will work in their favour. The contest is a big part of French rugby and it is a big feature of the Robbie Deans Wallabies era as well. What will be interesting to see is the big one-on-one contests at the breakdown.

"The French do have some good competitors, and have picked pretty much the same team three weeks in a row, which is very rare in French rugby. So they will benefit from those combinations.

"However, the flip side is that Stade de France is not their most successful venue. They don't always win there. Marseilles is a happy hunting ground, but Paris hasn't been. The match at home is a strong feature of the French club structure, but doesn't necessarily translate with Stade de France and the national team."

The 1991 World Cup-winning prop has been particularly pleased to see two of his Waratahs front-rowers - Benn Robinson and Al Baxter - getting accolades following an accomplished scrummaging performance against England last weekend.

"For me, it was a classic sporting situation," he said. "You had the downtrodden, maligned, badgered, who then were able to answer their critics on the public stage. It is a fairytale. And knowing the individuals very well, I am very proud of what they did. It is also a tribute to the Wallabies forwards coach Michael Foley, and the application of the players, who have really put in over the last couple of years. That was a sum of all their work.

"Hopefully, that will change the perception. There will still be critics, but if you back it up with a good game this week against France, you can have a very happy, long retirement.

"For someone like Al Baxter, who is Australia's most capped prop, he needs to be able to retire not having a stigma surrounding his career. And there is now a great scenario for him to go forward from."

McKenzie has strong Australian links at his French club, with its star recruit being former Kangaroo Mark Gasnier, who is relishing being away from the NRL "fishbowl". "He is coming along quite quickly, but not without errors," McKenzie said. "But they are only errors of knowledge, and he doesn't generally make the same mistake twice, so his uptake is very good."

McKenzie said despite the difficult transition from NRL to French club football, Gasnier had immediately impressed with his ball and running skills, plus his understanding of space.

"He has a lot of good skills across the board," McKenzie said. "He tells me that he still feels lost at times. But that's to be understood. We'll work through that because he's a good student of the game. Twelve weeks ago, he was playing rugby league. In 12 weeks' time who knows? In 12 months' time who knows? He is contracted here for a while. He might stay. He might go. Don't know. He doesn't know. But he's certainly enjoying himself."