No more auto Wallabies start for Giteau

[travelling_gerry]

No more auto Wallabies start for Giteau

By Darren Walton, AAP August 8, 2010, 3:47 pm
AAP © Enlarge photo




Matt Giteau's starting position with the Wallabies is in question for the first time in his brilliant career as Robbie Deans toys with the idea of deploying an-all Queensland midfield trio against the Springboks.
Giteau, a backline mainstay since 2004, won the John Eales Medal last year before being one of Australia's outstanding performers on the ill-fated grand slam tour of the British Isles.
A victim of his own versatility and class, Giteau is often unfairly made the scapegoat for Wallabies defeats.
Giteau has again come under fire during Australia's up-and-down start to the 2010 Test season.
Despite scoring all of Australia's 20 points, including two tries, he bore the brunt for the shock loss to England in Sydney because he missed a routine late penalty goal attempt that would have won the Wallabies the match.
Yet, with a strike rate above 80 per cent over the past season and a half, Giteau remains among the world's most reliable goalkickers.
But with first-choice five-eighth Quade Cooper returning from suspension and Anthony Faingaa emerging as a viable inside centre option, Deans admits Giteau is no longer deemed an automatic starter for the Wallabies.
"Clearly we've got choice now, which is great and the group understands that now," Deans said on Sunday.
"They're all helping each other, all working hard now to ensure that we have a squad that regardless of who is called on, we'll be good to go. That's what the game's about."
Giteau's team-mates were full of admiration for the 84-Test veteran for fronting up two days after the death of his grandfather to direct the Australian attack in Saturday night's 20-10 loss to New Zealand in Christchurch.
"It was a big effort from him," Adam Ashley-Cooper said.
"It was certainly a true test of character and he showed a lot of courage."
And while not concerned with his form, for Deans the issue is deciding what game style he wants to implement in Australia's next Tri Nations Test - now all but a dead rubber - in three weeks against South Africa in Pretoria.
Certain to recall Cooper, Deans is still favouring using Giteau outside him, especially because Cooper's long passing to the wide-running Giteau was so effective in the Wallabies' comprehensive 30-13 defeat of the Springboks two weeks ago in Brisbane.
But Deans is also considering persisting with the more direct Faingaa after his "fantastic" starting debut opposing destructive All Blacks centre Ma'a Nonu.
Faingaa, Cooper and halfback Will Genia formed one of the most potent 12-10-9 combinations in the Super 14 this season with the Reds and Deans must decide whether they can be equally dangerous at international level.
Ashley-Cooper, who partnered Faingaa in the centres on Saturday night, has no doubt the two could prove a deadly duo given further time together.
"For a new combination up against the best in the world, I thought we did really well and worked well together," Ashley-Cooper said.
"So it's pretty exciting to see how that combination can grow over the next couple of years.
"He's got huge potential and I'm pretty sure Deansy was pretty happy with how he went.

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[pieter blackie]

It is funny how it took the administration more than a year to see the light

[jazza93]

Lots of speculation from just two quotes. Can't see any reason to drop Giteau against the boks after how well he usually plays against them, especially the last 2 seasons of away games v the boks.

[zimeric]

agreed i may not like him but he has the most class and experience in that backline at the moment... untill they have a genuine replacement for him at 12 (i cant think of any in the wings) he will be there for many years methinks

[brokendown gunfighter]

typical media dribble,I thought the coverage of the election campaign was bad enough!

[Burgs]

I maintain he is an ordinary Flyhalf, but he is a world class #12 and should be kept there.
At least he is starting to distribute the ball a bit more rather than being Super Gits to the rescue all the time.

[TOCC]

he was a world class inside centre a few years back, he was starting to show glimpses of that form in the South African test when he was at 12 outside Quade.. Which is why it bewildered me when they moved him to 10 and then started Barnes at 12 for the All Blacks test.

Whether he should be dropped is a tough question, on one hand he can be the worlds best inside centre, on the other hand i dont think his playing style works well with Quade, but it would be very unfair to giteau to pick faingaa over him.

[BDAVEY]

we dont want to many banana benders in the backline.... keep Gits at 12 push Fiangaa out one he runs straight and hard bit like Digby but not the leg drive etc but work in progress I feel. Likew to see Sheps inside of JOC
JOC should be at 12 but i cant see that happening for a while

[Rex Messup]

A.Faingaa brings a different more direct approach to our midfield. He acclerates and always gets us over the ad line which puts us on the front foot and allows quick phase ball. This is the key to unlocking defences.

Gits runs sideways, confuses his outside backs, continually kicks good ball away and stands 10-15 meters behind the ruck which means our pack is constantly going backwards to the next phase. Our pack gets maimed by the worlds press for trying to adjust to how sh1thouse our backline is.

Cooper stands flat. Faingaa runs straight hard and fast and is a real handfull. The bloke is young hungry and puts his body on the line. His improvement in the last 12 months is quite frankly staggering. Cometh the hour cometh the man.

Gits seems clueless how to unlock the allblacks. he isn't a 10's @rsehole and never was

[GIGS20]

I actually agree with the analysis rex makes of Gits' playing style, but I think that's what makes him a shit 10 and a good 12.

THere's nothing wrong with a 12 running an outside angle if the 10's good enough to put the ball on the spot and the 13's smart enough to cut inside. With Quade and AAC we have both and Gits could get a bucket of space (coz the boy DOES have good feet) My only question is whether we can find another fullback. Kurtley didn't really work out (nothing drastic, but he's not up to the standard) and Rabbit is only a little better, probably good on the wing.

You can't blame Deans for overlooking Shep, if he can't displace Rabbit from the 10 at provincial level why would you think he can in a test?, so we're now left with limited options. AAC is probably the best fulback option so far, but that leaves a hole at 13......I'm not so sure Faingaa is a good option outside Gits, he'd spend most of the match scratching his head, because Giteau doesn't seem to call anything, and continually dies with the ball, nobody around him having a clue what's going on. If Digby's not fit, we either need to bench Gits go with Faingaa at 12 and push AAC to Fullback, looking for a solid 13 with some experience (Spanner anyone) or we need to leave Gits at 12, Keep AAC in 13 and look for a solution to the Fullback dilemma (Possibly Rabbit 15 and Sheps 14)

I don't think Gits will be dropped though, he's a better 12 than Faingaa.

[KenyaQuin]

Got to agree with previous posts about Gits moving back to 12. Going by the Cooper/Gits combination against SA, hard to see Deans dropping him with Cooper's return. Deans would probably want to see the combination against the All Blacks before thinking of some major shuffles.

[Burgs]

Australia's coaches (Wallaby and S14) seem to have an obsession with playmaker/quarterback/superstar Flyhalves.
Personally I think that was appropriate during the early years of pro Rugby but now the game has evolved past that with far faster defence. The critical "playmaker" roles are now evolving to be #9 and #12, with #9 needing even more than historically to deliver long accurate passes to gain time for the #12 to exploit gaps. There are very few who will have the skill and speed to run the backline from #10 from now on.
Bring back the "pivot" Flyhalf who is the master at distribution and positional kicking.

[TOCC]

the 5/8 is still the main playmaker, but you are right, due to the evolution of defence, more is expected of the inside centre and halfback