http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1225799487501

IT'S a hell of a thing to say about IRB Player of the Year finalist Matt Giteau, that he tells lies, but Scotland coach Andy Robinson had nothing but admiration in his voice when he said it.

To tell the truth, the Wallabies playmaker seems to be much on Robinson's mind going into Sunday's Hopetoun Cup Test against Australia in Edinburgh. Unprompted, he told a press conference at Murrayfield that the head-to-head clash of 85kg Giteau with his equally diminutive Scottish counterpart Phil Godman would be "fantastic to watch".

But then later, speaking to The Australian, Robinson went further, mischievously suggesting that Giteau is far from truthful in the way he takes the ball to the line. "Giteau asks so many questions," Robinson said. "He tells lies to the defence with his showing and going. That break he made against Ireland was fantastic and very, very skilful." Small wonder Giteau looms so large in Robinson's thinking, given he was the person responsible for Robinson's first defeat as the then England coach back in November 2004.

Having taken over the reins from World Cup-winner Clive Woodward just two months earlier, Robinson opened his account for England with a 70-0 thrashing of Canada, followed by a 32-16 defeat of the Springboks and was then looking good to claim the Wallabies scalp as well when his side led 19-15 coming into the final 10 minutes at Twickenham.

But then up stepped Giteau to land two pressure penalty goals at the death to sink England 21-19. And from there it all turned sour for Robinson. He would then go on to lose 10 of his next 17 Tests as England coach and two tortuous years later, his reign came to a messy end.

Now, having resurrected his coaching career with Edinburgh, Robinson has returned to the Test arena as coach of Scotland and made a positive start by disposing of Fiji 23-10 last weekend. But again, the Wallabies and Giteau have moseyed into town and the real moment of truth has arrived.

It's not just its deceptive playmaker that troubles him. Indeed, Robinson has warned his players that unless they lift by 15 per cent across every aspect of the game, they are in for a grim afternoon. "There's a real positivity about the way they scrum," Robinson said. "Their lineout is under pressure but it's a good lineout. When you come up against Ireland and England, who are the two best lineout teams in the world, it's easy to be under pressure.

"So we know their lineout will be good and we've got to be right at our best to challenge for ball but also to secure ball ourselves. The other area where they're very strong is their ability to turn ball over . . . Right across the board players who get isolated lose the ball because they are strong in that contact area.

"So I think it is an impressive Australian team. They've been together. They've had some hardship during the Tri-Nations but they weren't far away and that was shown with their performance against South Africa (in Brisbane).

"We haven't won against Australia since 1982, they're third in the world, so it's a tough challenge for us. But we're in control of that and if we can make those improvements, I firmly believe we'll win."

Robinson yesterday backed that belief by making no changes to the starting XV - indeed to the match 22 - used against Fiji, though as much to give his players the chance to rectify their mistakes as endorsing their performances last weekend.

It's likely Wallabies coach Robbie Deans will make only one change to the team that came away from Dublin with a hollow draw against Ireland, with the rotation at openside flanker expected to continue with George Smith taking over from man-of-the-match David Pocock.

But for the Scottish fetcher John Barclay who will have to mark one of them, it's the devil's alternative either way.

"It doesn't make a difference," he said. "They're both quality players. You want to test yourself against the best. Whoever they pick, it's going to be tough because both of them are playing right at the top of their game."

At least the Scots will have plenty of video of the Wallabies to analyse, having basically taken on the Fijians sight unseen. Not that Barclay believes that will change much. "We can try and bed down the way we think they're going to play . . . but in terms of the Test, I expect this will be one of the toughest games I've ever played."