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Matt Giteau refutes reports he is miserable under Test coach Robbie Deans
- Wayne Smith
- From: The Australian
- July 17, 2010 12:00AM
MATT Giteau is not unhappy in the Wallabies, just the opposite in fact.
Australia's highest-profile and quite possibly highest-paid rugby player is bewildered to find himself caught in a vortex of public conjecture over why he is so miserable in the Wallabies when in fact he isn't.
"The frustrating thing is that one person (a media critic) is coming out saying I'm unhappy and from that people are trying to work out the reasons why," Giteau told The Weekend Australian.
"The actual case is that I'm not unhappy, I'm not down at all. I'm enjoying my football.
"I've always loved my football. As soon as that enjoyment stops, I stop playing. But I still love my football and want to be involved as much as ever."
Giteau insisted speculation that he and Wallabies coach Robbie Deans had had a falling out was just one example of people ticking boxes in their attempts to find a reason for his supposed discontentment.
"That's one that people throw up but I've loved working with Robbie," he said. "He's certainly taught me a lot while I've been here (in the Wallabies). I've thought I've played some of the best rugby of my career under Robbie."
Ironically, Giteau believes that one of his best performances, at least of recent times, came in the match which triggered speculation that he actually wanted out of the Wallabies, the Sydney Test against England last month.
That was the game in which Giteau, still groggy after being taken out off the ball -- the incident which led to Australia, then 20-21 behind, receiving a penalty straight in front of the England posts -- astonishingly missed the simple match-winning kick. But it also was the game in which he scored two tries and accounted for all of Australia's points.
Just as he did at the post-match press conference that night, Giteau again refused to make excuses for the miss but when pressed admitted that his head was not together when he attempted the kick.
"Clearly it wasn't. Otherwise I would have got it," Giteau said.
"But that's not to say I was knocked out or anything like that. I was already thinking of the next play -- receiving the kick-off and playing field position.
"That's the only thing I can probably learn from that -- to stay in the moment."
Now 27 and the veteran of 80 Tests, Giteau admits his approach has changed dramatically from when he first came into the Australian team in 2002.
The cheeky, precocious new recruit has risen steadily through the ranks and now carries a general's baton. Whenever the television cameras settle on him these days, they're likely to capture the image of a commanding officer barking out orders to the troops.
"That's the thing -- look at the (playing) group now," Giteau said.
"It's a totally different dynamic to when I first came into the Wallabies and could just do my job, was laughing and having fun.
"It could be the way I yell instructions.
"It looks ugly but I'm just trying to get them across.
"I don't know whether I should be walking around in a Test match just smiling the whole time."
Indeed, Giteau recognises that it is a pointless exercise trying to convince people he is not an angry man and a disruptive influence within the side.
"So long as within the playing group and the staff they're happy with how I'm going and they're happy with my contribution to the squad, that's all that really matters in our quest to getting to where we want to be next year (at the World Cup)," Giteau said.
He is convinced the quest is on target and that the Wallabies soon will put together the ultimate game that will convince themselves -- and their detractors -- that they are on the right course.
"All the pieces are here and everyone feels that there is that confidence in the group that we are very close," Giteau said.
"Hopefully our next game is the one where it clicks."
It will need to be.
The Wallabies' next game is against the world champion Springboks next Saturday at Suncorp Stadium and anything less than their best won't be good enough.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1225892981166
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Originally Posted by Matt Giteau
its a worry I believe QC has the worst defense stats from the S14 out of all the Wallabies backs
