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Wayne Smith From: The Australian February 10, 2011 12:00AM
MATT Giteau is hoping his planned move to France at the end of this year is not the end of his Test career but merely an interlude.
The 28-year-old Brumbies playmaker has all but finalised negotiations with a French club, almost certainly Toulon, but is unlikely to commit to more than an 18-month contract, after which he could return to Australia. "If I'm still playing good football, I'd like to think I could have another crack at getting back into the Wallabies," Giteau told The Australian yesterday.
If he was given the same dispensation to make a delayed start to the Super Rugby season as Dan Vickerman this year, Giteau might even come into contention for the 2013 series against the British and Irish Lions.
Giteau is considering making himself available for the mooted Wallabies tour to Britain for a possible Test against Ireland or Wales after the World Cup in September-October - especially if he is stranded one Test short of becoming only the fifth Australian to win 100 international caps.
"I just want to go out and play good footy this year for the Brumbies and, hopefully, Australia," said Giteau, who finished last year on the bench for the Wallabies against Italy and France.
"Winning 100 Test caps was never a big motivator for me but now that I'm this close (he has 91), it would really mean a lot."
If Giteau played every Test this year and the Wallabies made the World Cup final, he would finish with 103 caps. But with Quade Cooper seemingly entrenched at five-eighth and Berrick Barnes preferred at inside centre, there is a huge question mark over what role he will play this season.
Aware of past criticism, Giteau has made such a point of proving himself a team player that ACT coach Andy Friend has awarded him the Brumbies captaincy for tonight's trial match against the Hurricanes at Canberra's Viking Park. "Matt has responded really well in training and you cannot fault his attitude," Friend said. "He's come back refreshed and reinvigorated . . . I can sense a completely different animal."
Giteau might have captained the Barbarians to a historic win over the Springboks in December just before he got married, but this will be the first time since his Super Rugby debut in 2003 that Giteau has captained the Brumbies.
Stephen Hoiles will play 30 minutes of tonight's trial to test his problem achilles heel but even if he comes through unscathed, he is most likely to start on the bench in the Brumbies' early Super Rugby matches, which means Giteau could lead the team intothis year's campaign.
There had been speculation Giteau's best friend, Test winger Drew Mitchell, might follow him to France and even to Toulon. Mitchell was also negotiating with Bayonne and English club Bath but the Wallabies' flyer yesterday re-committed to Australian rugby and the Waratahs for another two years.
"It's going to be weird when Gits goes because he's my best mate, but we've just vowed to make the most of this season, with both of us playing well for the Wallabies," Mitchell said.
Like Giteau, Mitchell is acutely aware that the Wallabies, while they might presently rank No 2 in the world, have not won a World Cup, Bledisloe Cup or Tri-Nations during their playing careers.
"That's the biggest factor in terms of making my decision to stay," said Mitchell, a 55-Test veteran.
"Those trophies are something I've always had a desire to win and I don't want to go overseas while I'm still playing my best rugby. If I left now, I know that at some time in the future I'd regret it and think what could have been."
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226003283328
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