Wales switch focus from Dan Carter to Australia's Matt Giteau
Wales switch focus from Dan Carter to Australia's Matt Giteau
By Wayne Smith
November 27, 2008 MATT Giteau might be the lightest player in a giant-killing team from a nation of overachievers but he is weighing heavily on the mind of Wales rugby coach Warren Gatland in the lead-up to Saturday's Test at Millennium Stadium.
A week after setting his players the task of shutting down Dan Carter, Gatland's steely gaze has swivelled on to Giteau, the diminutive playmaker looming large in his sights as Australia's linchpin, a player as crucial to the success of the Wallabies game as Carter is to New Zealand.
"I think they're quite similar in terms of when Carter is on top of his game and dominating the game then the All Blacks get a flow - and the same with Australia (and Giteau)," said Gatland at Wales' training base outside Cardiff.
"One of the things he does is get good distance between nine and 10 which stretches opposition defences. For a player who is not big, he's deceptively strong. He runs nice lines and knows when to take a gap.
"For me, those two positions (the New Zealand and Australian five-eighths) in the last couple of weeks were pretty critical. We did a lot of work last week on Carter and it will be the same sort of approach this weekend in terms of trying to shut down Matt's game."
As for marking Giteau, his opposite number Stephen Jones admits he will have his work cut out for him, just as he did marking Carter last weekend.
"He's brilliant, isn't he?" Jones said. "He's the centre of everything for Australia. He pulls the strings and you have to make sure your defensive unit is clever because you can't afford to give him space."
The Welsh team's assessment comes hard on the heels of former British Lions great Jonathan Davies' claim that Giteau may have edged ahead of Carter.
This will be the 14th and last Test of the year for the Wallabies and Giteau has played in every one of them. He has started in all but the Italian Test, in which he spent 12 idle minutes on the bench before being thrust into the game.
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