Froggy, the front row really needs to be looked at with a very critical analytical examination.
Scott Sio's scrum performance last night should be examined. It looked like a couple of penalties that went against him were dubious to say the least, and many posters are saying the same. Sio's problems up until now have been related to pulling the opposition THP down as he moves his bind to under the body and has his elbow pointing to the ground. I don't think there was one instance of that happening last night. It was the opposite where the Reds front row, Tupou and BPA, were first to be popped out of the scrum. Those were wins to Sio and FF (Folau Fainga'a), but the penalties went to the Reds. In general play, Sio and Slipper play different games. Sio looks to dominate in contact while Slipper is a little more nuanced. Scott had a very strong game in open play in his 50 - 60 minutes, while Slipper had a tiring Tupou to cope with at scrum time towards the end. I would persist with Sio to start for the Wallabies with James on the bench.
OTOH, Taniela Tupou had a very quiet game for him. Definitely a couple of scrums where he looked to be displaced by Sio, and there apparently is some thought that he doesn't always stay straight when pushing. The last scrum of the night was instructive, I thought. Tupou was angled in at about 45 degrees before the ball was even fed, so it looks like there might be some fire behind the smoke. We certainly don't want one of our most valuable and dangerous Wallabies being whistled out of the game in test matches if there is anything suspect about his scrummaging. We won't be able to rely on an impartial referee's apparent lack of knowledge about scrums to gain ascendency.
Alan Ala'alatoa last night was the busiest front rower on the ground. Don't think he had any issues at scrum time at all, and he constantly made ground through the tackle. In fact, he was the pick of the THPs on display in the final. Defense wise, he was significantly superior to Tupou who missed a couple of critical tackles in the lead up to Brumbies tries. Either AAA or Tupou, if his technique is clear, will more often than not finish on top of the opposition in upcoming tests. I would prefer Tupou to start, but not if he's got question marks. Time for some close analysis of his scrumming technique I think.
With the hookers, I think FF (Folau Fainga'a) has established himself as the front runner. I am still questioning Uelese's suitability. It has looked to me during the SRAu competition that he has some deficiencies in defense. Seems to fall off a lot of tackles and that could be a weak point of his.