Matt Giteau chasing gold after Cheika’s opening gambit pays dividends

Until Michael Cheika forced through The Giteau Rule one of rugby's last little big men saw this World Cup as nothing more than a tidy earner.

"I thought I'd be doing a couple of speaking gigs, get bit of cash, that was the plan," admits Matt Giteau.

The Cheika whirlwind decreed otherwise. Using a unique position of strength, in the wake of the Ewen McKenzie/Di Patston scandal and having delivered a Super Rugby title for the Waratahs, the former Leinster coach forced the ARU to end their policy of not selecting overseas Wallabies.

Giteau was living comfortably in international exile in Toulon, having banked four years' worth of Mourad Boudjellal euros, due to former Australia coach Robbie Deans's ruthlessly dismissive regime.

Deans wasn't a believer. Cheika most certainly is. And so is every mercenary temporarily settled along the Côte d'Azur or any professional who has existed in his stratosphere.

Just not Deans. The man overlooked for the All Black job in 2008 was quickly snapped up by the Wallabies. His five-year term saw Australia lose the 2011 World Cup semi-final, after being bashed by Ireland, before the Lions came Down Under and captured their first series since 1997.

Giteau had no involvement in either failed endeavour. Deans went another way, feeling the need for Pat McCabe muscle alongside the flighty Quade Cooper, while James O’Connor and Christian Leali’ifano, the 10-12 combination exposed by the Lions, failed to make Cheika’s 31-man cut. Cooper is a bench above dirt tracking.

Cheika went with, and has since been repaid for backing, the established mental fortitude of Giteau and Bernard Foley.

Best football

“It’s just been an amazing ride for me these last six months to come back in and be welcomed by such a great group straight away,” said the 32-year-old. “As soon as you feel welcomed like that, you are able to play your best football, you are able to play as natural as possible.”

Giteau goes way, way back. Find a way past Argentina this Sunday and he will sit alongside Stephen Larkham on 102 caps. It would also herald his second World Cup final after being a temporary replacement for Larkham in the 2003 defeat to England. The only abiding image of Giteau that day was being lifted and buried into Sydney turf by Jonny Wilkinson.

"In 2003 I didn't have a huge involvement, I was pretty young, came off the bench. What we can use from that is we have Steve Larkham. His advice about how to handle things has been invaluable for me."

Larkham and Giteau now scheme in the backrooms of their Surrey hotel.

“I knew this was a role he would be good at. He used to be very, very quiet as a player but now as a coach he speaks a lot, gets his messages across well. The way he dissects teams is a real pleasure to watch and the style he wants us to play is really pleasurable to play.”

A craftsman, maybe Giteau will also coach some day?

“No, no, no. Not at all. I hate watching. When I’m injured and watching, I feel helpless. You can’t do anything. I’ll get well away from it.”

Kicking coach

This, you may have gathered, is about some great five-eights, albeit with a Chris Malone cameo but he may be considered the game's leading kicking coach by the night of October 31st. That's presuming Nicolás Sánchez doesn't intervene.

Malone was worth wandering over to at the Wallaby briefing in Lensbury Park yesterday morning.

An Australian known for his metronomic boot at Bath, Harlequins and London Irish from 2002 to 2011, Cheika only plucked him from obscurity last August.

There have been doubts about Foley, missing three kicks in the first half against Scotland, but when the pressure reached its zenith he delivered.

“One thing about Bernard is he has never lacked confidence so it was an easy fix,” said Malone. “He’s a good goal kicker.

“We know he is capable of doing it and in a big moment he did.”

Concerning Argentinians, Giteau knows Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe and another from Toulon.

“He’s a beautiful man,” beamed the relaxed Giteau about his former stable mate Juan Martín Hernández. “I always told him that when he was at Toulon.”

They will see the whites of each other’s eyes at Twickenham when the contrasting styles of equally magical number 12s come into close contact.

“He is very skilful, he’s tough, defensively strong, he adds a lot of stability to that team. I know what it’s like to play with him, especially in big games – he’s a very, very good player. Very confident in what he does and the things that he can do a lot of other players can’t. I have a lot of respect for him.”

Ireland will never forget Hernández after the 2007 masterclass and last Sunday’s early bombs were followed by a delightful range of passing that shredded Les Kiss’s defensive cloak.

Underestimate

Did they perhaps underestimate Argentina? “I don’t know really how the Irish approached it. For us, it’s a semi-final so there are only really good teams left.

“Every game is going to be tough, you can’t underestimate them, we won’t underestimate them. It’s a semi-final. You can’t. It won’t happen.”

As a French resident back in Wallaby gold, we couldn’t let him leave without touching on the northern versus southern hemisphere divide.

“Most French kids are playing with a soccer ball so . . .”

That hasn’t hindered Argentina’s giant leap.