RUGBY:MATT GITEAU'S World Cup hopes, and perhaps even his nine-year test career, look to be hanging by a thread this week as Wallabies coach Robbie Deans ponders his options ahead of the announcement of his squad for rugby's showpiece event.
While Quade Cooper was further cementing his place as Australia’s first-choice outhalf in the 14-9 victory over the Springboks at the weekend, Giteau turned out in the losing cause for his club side Randwick in Sydney.
Although he played superbly and scored two tries, Giteau’s star has fallen sufficiently that there would be no great surprise if he was to be omitted when Deans names his World Cup party on Thursday.
“We’ve got some tough calls to make this week and there is going to be some pain,” Deans told reporters in Durban.
Just two years ago, Giteau won the John Eales Medal as the outstanding Australian of the season and also earned a nomination for the IRB’s world player of the year, the second time he had been included in the shortlist after 2004.
Giteau, who has scored 684 points in 92 tests since his debut for Australia in 2002, may have moved to inside centre when Cooper appeared on the test scene but it was this versatility that seemed to make him a certainty for the World Cup squad.
A disappointing 2011 Super Rugby campaign with the ailing ACT Brumbies, however, was compounded by a poor performance when he was offered the chance to claim the position as Cooper’s back-up in the defeat to Samoa that opened Australia’s season.
Dropped for the last three matches amid rumours of a rift with Deans, Giteau returned to club rugby and watched while others staked their claims.
Pat McCabe has impressed at inside centre in the last four tests and scored Australia’s only try in South Africa on Saturday, while full back Kurtley Beale and winger James O’Connor, both of whom can play at outhalf, are clearly integral to Deans’s plans.
Ironically, though, it is another player who turned out in Sydney club rugby at the weekend that could end up denying Giteau his ticket to New Zealand.
Berrick Barnes, who offers similar versatility to Giteau and can also play at fullback, continued his comeback on Saturday with 26 points for Sydney University.
Connacht have suffered an early season blow with promising lock forward Dave Nolan set to miss most of the campaign after breaking a leg in the weekend meeting with Exeter Chiefs.
The 6ft 6in lock, who was capped for the Irish under-20 side, suffered the injury blow in Saturday’s 47-10 pre-season loss at Dubarry Park.
