Giteau fit and raring to go

[travelling_gerry]

Giteau fit and raring to go

8/04/2008 9:47:04 PM
Chris Pike
Sportal

Western Force flyhalf Matt Giteau is feeling fully fit again ahead of the crucial clash at Subiaco Oval with NSW this Saturday night and is hoping the Waratahs follow through on their talk of focusing on him.

Giteau has now fully overcome his hip complaint ahead of the game, which will be the Force's first against an Australian opposition this Super 14 season and a win will further cement them in the top four with four games remaining.

The Waratahs came out claiming to be focusing on Giteau earlier in the week, which he is hoping happens.

"Every game you go into there's no player that you don't focus on tackling, so I don't see that as being any different," Giteau said.

"If they do want to target me, we have other great players in our side that could get a bit more space. I'm not too sure what the Waratahs were thinking when they said that publicly, because we have players that can make breaks and play good football if they focus on me."

Giteau's sore hip was never going to keep him out of games, but now that he's feeling good he might take back kicking duties from Cameron Shepherd and look to make more plays himself, rather than just being a distributor.

"It's perfect and I have no problems this week. I'm fit to kick again, but I'll talk to Shep about it and see who wants to do it more," he said.

"The way that we've been playing I haven't been making too many breaks. A lot of the time my role has been to be the distributor as so many guys have been playing so well. Just to name a few there's Nathan Sharpe, Drew Mitchell and Ryan Cross, so they have been the ones making a lot of the breaks."

Giteau was also not shy in declaring that there's plenty of added spice against fellow Australian teams, but the most important part for the Force is getting a win, as it could be crucial to finishing in the top four at season's end.

"Whenever you play any Australian side there is a bit more feeling, but we aren't getting too carried away with it and don't want emotion playing too big of a part in the game. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't more intense and that we didn't look forward to it more than other games, though," he said.

"Our destiny is in our hands now. A lot of the teams that are battling for that fourth spot we will come up against in the next few weeks, so if we play well we will make it, if we don't then we won't deserve to be there."

While much of the attention pre-game will be on the No. 10 battle between Giteau and Kurtley Beale, the Force and Wallabies star believes the game will be won by the forward packs.

"The Waratahs forwards really stood up on the weekend and took it to the Blues pack, so from that point of view it will be a physical game," he said.

"As a pack and team, we need to stand up physically. As backs we still need to do our role, but the forwards could decide who wins."


http://sportal.com.au/rugby-union-ne...ng-to-go-46282

[GIGS20]

He's sure got his head screwed on right doesn't he?

[tragic]

Indeed he does

[Jehna]

I love Gits. He's so modest. It is so rare to see someone who is young and talented and hyped up by the media but has so much perspective and is so clearly focused on his rugby. It's somewhat beautiful and inspiring to see.

He's also not wrong about the talent in that back line. Even if they shut Gits down we have plenty of boys who will step up to the plate.

[James]

I love Gits. He's so modest. It is so rare to see someone who is young and talented and hyped up by the media but has so much perspective and is so clearly focused on his rugby. It's somewhat beautiful and inspiring to see.

He's also not wrong about the talent in that back line. Even if they shut Gits down we have plenty of boys who will step up to the plate.

Its rare to see someone who isn't a NSW ex-league player hyped up by the media so when that does happen you do realise that the rest of them don't also have their heads up their asses.

I'd think you could lodge a fairly solid argument that any player in the Force's backline is better than their opposite number (Tuqiri inclusive). I haven't ever seen Luke Burgess play so perhaps at 9 there is room for rebuttal.

[GIGS20]

Yeah Burgess looked pretty good against the Blues, but it's easy for a 9 to look good behind a pack that's got so much go forward happening! It'll be interesting to see how he handles playing with Freier's butt getting pushed into his face all day!

[jargan83]

Ewwwwww i would wish that on my enemies.......oh i might

i am very much looking forward to this weekend, a chance for the Force to prove that their the best in Australia. Bring it on

[Swee_82]

Good to hear Gits is fully ready to go. I cannot wait for this weekend- how can it only be Wednesday?

[jargan83]

Sucks doesn't it, the game is still 4 days away

[The Big I]

But it's fly out day so its all good

[no.8]

I love Gits. He's so modest. It is so rare to see someone who is young and talented and hyped up by the media but has so much perspective and is so clearly focused on his rugby. It's somewhat beautiful and inspiring to see.

He's also not wrong about the talent in that back line. Even if they shut Gits down we have plenty of boys who will step up to the plate.

I hate to mention it but he seems to have the same intensity as Johnny Wilkinson.
Bizarre to this AJ puts hours and hours smashing into a scrum machine to get the perfect stance when scrummaging!

[BLR]

I hate to mention it but he seems to have the same intensity as Johnny Wilkinson.

Agreed, there seems to be periods of the game where he floats around a little bit not seeming to be in the game, and when he does get a bit more personal direction into his game that is when he is dangerous, for an example look at the large amounts of sideways running against the Bulls, a simple change of direction would do wonders for our backline menace....

[jono]

hopefully there will be lots of direction changes now his hip is 100% again.