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Gits' halves combination blossoming
June 24, 2008 LIKE a blossoming romance, Australia fly half Matt Giteau says he can sense a special relationship developing with Wallabies' rookie No.9 Luke Burgess.
After just one Test together, resulting in a scrappy 18-12 victory over Ireland 10 days ago, Giteau promised he and his other half would only get better as the chemistry between the pair continued to build.
"Me and Luke are getting along really well. We go to coffees, we go to lunch together, so we're getting along really well," Giteau quipped when asked how Australia's new-look halves pairing was coming along.
Giteau, though, was deadly serious when he promised a sharper performance from he and Burgess in Saturday night's first Test against France at Sydney's ANZ Stadium.
"I'm becoming more familiar with the way Luke likes to play," Giteau said.
"Obviously I haven't played a real lot with Luke. I trained with him a little bit when I was at the Brumbies but, obviously recently, I've only been with him together for four weeks now (with the Wallabies).
"But I'm starting to understand a little bit more of how he likes to play.
"I think that's when the combinations start to really grow, when you can understand and see how certain players like to play.
"It makes a huge difference. Going into that Irish Test, we'd only had two weeks together and now we've had four or five weeks together.
"So we've had that extra time to develop combinations, to become more familiar with patterns and the way (coach) Robbie (Deans) wants us to play.
"So it's made a huge difference. The more time that you can get, the better you are going to be at execution."
Just as he has a Test newcomer inside him, Giteau is also adjusting to having someone different playing outside him in Berrick Barnes at inside centre.
"As well with Berrick, I'm starting to understand how Berrick likes to play and I think that really helps with your relationship," Giteau said.
"Obviously Berrick and Luke make me feel a bit older than I am.
"When I had Steve Larkham (inside) and Stirling Mortlock outside me, I felt pretty young.
"But with these guys outside, it certainly brings that excitement back into the backline.
"New guys, they've got a lot of energy and, yeah, it's exciting times."
Fox Sports 3 will be bring you live and uninterrupted coverage on Saturday night as Australia face France in Sydney. And foxsports.com.au will bring you live and interactive coverage from first whistle to last.
AAP
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-23217,00.html
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