Giteau grateful for kicking duties
Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:55
Matt Giteau returned to the scene of his Test debut to mastermind Australia's first win at Twickenham for four years as the Wallabies beat England 28-14 in the Cook Cup international on Saturday.
Flyhalf Giteau, who made his international bow at Twickenham in 2002, kicked 20 points and pulled off a try-saving tackle as Martin Johnson saw his second match as England manager end in defeat after last week's victory over the Pacific Islanders.
And Giteau was delighted with captain Stirling Mortlock's kicking referring to all the penalties they received.
"Well that's the thing. It was like that against Italy and New Zealand and with the new laws too," said Giteau.
"I don't think our tour is over now. We did not play as well as I would like and we still have some big games to go and we want to win those."
Meanwhile, England manager and former World Cup winning captain, Martin Johnson, concurred with Giteau over the costliness of the penalty count.
"We gave away too many penalties. It's as simple as that," added Johnson.
"They [Australia] did not have to do a lot to score and they did not break us.
"The players are disappointed because that was a game they had a good chance to win.
"If you do not have the ball though you cannot impose your physicality on your opponents."
AFP
