Giteau backs George

June 19, 2007 - 9:29am
Story by: Sportal

Matt Giteau has thrown his support behind his former skipper George Gregan, following the Wallabies' narrow 22-19 loss to South Africa in Cape Town on Saturday.

After starting from the bench in the recent two-Test series against Wales, Gregan has reclaimed his position at starting halfback with Giteau returning to his more familiar role of inside-centre.

The former Brumbies combination of Gregan, Larkham, Giteau and Mortlock has been reunited and now looks certain to lead Australia's backline into the World Cup.

And while Giteau would not be drawn on his own selection aspirations, he believes Gregan's performance against the Boks is enough to warrant his inclusion at halfback for the World Cup.

"I think George definitely played well enough to stay at halfback … and I think Bernie (Stephen Larkham) and Stirlo (Stirling Mortlock) all played well."

Speaking at Sydney airport on Monday, Giteau agreed the team's performance bodes well for the remainder of the Tri Nations campaign but admitted the loss was hard to stomach.

"Everyone was pretty shattered, I mean it was the closest I've been, I think, to a win over there, and then to lose the way we did; two good field goals to a replacement player was pretty devastating," Giteau said.

"We took a lot out of it, (it's) disappointing, but having said that I think defensively we got a lot out of it."

"We didn't get a real lot of ball in the second half to attack, but when we did get the ball we did show that we can make breaks and make some good yards," he said.

The Wallabies' strong showing at Newlands may have surprised some critics but Giteau revealed the team were quietly confident, despite being all but written off before the match.

"Within the squad we always had that belief that every team is beatable, we still have that belief."

"Inside the camp we had that belief that we could beat them (Springboks), you know we came close and we didn't, but we've still got that same belief against the All Blacks," Giteau said.