Golden Giteau weaves magic
Golden Giteau weaves magic
By Jim Tucker
May 30, 2007
MATT Giteau jinked and schemed for a slick training hour yesterday to prove his readiness to ignite Australia as its "thread of gold" on Saturday night.
Giteau ran at halfback with Steve Larkham outside him yesterday, offering convincing proof that they fit after respective knee and hamstring injuries to be named today to start against Wales.
Their proposed halve pairing will give the backline a huge organisational lift as Larkham returns to play for the final time in Queensland before his Test retirement later this year.
Giteau's speed to loop around Larkham and bob up as a gamebreaker in support provides options to cause Wales major problems on Saturday night.
The extra element that Giteau adds from halfback was summed up in the first Test when the Wallabies got on a second-half roll and stressed Wales defenders had to make a quick call.
Two tacklers faded off Giteau to grab No. 8 Wycliff Palu, and Giteau darted over untouched from the ruckbase in an instant.
"Good teams have them, and Gits is one of our threads of gold," Wallabies coach John Connolly said.
Giteau does not yet have George Gregan's organisational nous at halfback, but that's what the two Tests against Wales are to fast-track.
Gregan has been the consummate team man in camp, despite his diminishing role as reserve halfback.
Few players of his stature in any sport would accept that role and still contribute so much.
"George is a rare bloke," ," former Test skipper Andrew Slack said.
"He'd be working harder than anyone to make the new co-captain thing work and help Gits to be a better halfback."
Connolly meanwhile indicated that back-row enforcer Rocky Elsom would largely be spared from the rotation of players during this three-Test block and the Tri-Nations.
"In my view, Rocky is a guy who needs to play and plays better when he feels comfortable in the team," Connolly said.
