TRI-NATIONS

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Giteau talking with his boots

Tuesday 19th August 2008

Golden boot: Giteau has been in fine form of late with the boot

When it comes to selecting a goal-kicker, Australia and Robbie Deans have the luxury of picking between Matt Giteau and Stirling Mortlock - both recognised Test kickers.

Since Deans has been in charge of the Wallabies, the duties have fallen at the feet of Giteau. And with 25 from 29 since he took over from Mortlock, few can argue with Deans' selection.

Given Giteau's fine form with the boot, to go with his electric running game, it is no surprise that he is drawing comparisons with Dan Carter.

"I think you just have those games where you feel like you're hitting the ball well," Giteau told AAP.

"At the moment I feel like I'm striking the ball as good as I have ever have.

"Stats are irrelevant. The biggest thing is if the team's going well then I'm happy.

"It's just one of the jobs and it's something that I look forward to."

Despite an impressive eighty-six per cent success rate Giteau insists he has not been putting any extra practice in after training.

"I haven't changed a real lot. Maybe I just had easier shots, that's all it was, they've just been closer to the posts," he said.

Giteau's ability to keep the score ticking over has impressed Deans, giving him no reason to consider using Mortlock as a place-kicker.

"If you can strike while the iron is hot, if you can take advantage of field position and pressure and momentum then the game does have a fair amount of chemistry to it," the coach said.

Despite having not won in South Africa since 2000 Giteau insists that the Wallabies are free from any mental issues over their poor record in the Republic.

The only surviving member of the side that won in Durban eight years ago is Mortlock himself, so Giteau claims there are no psychological problems about winning on the road.

"No, not psychological, I don't think it is at all," Giteau said.

"South Africa have lifted another gear.

"I think the Tri-Nations shows how tough it is to win away from home. Obviously South Africa did it in New Zealand which was a huge effort.

"It's just the way this competition is, your home games are the ones that you really want to win and you really have to win.

"It's not something that we've spoken about too much, I suppose the history, it's more just this year.

"We've been given our opportunities now, we've got two games over here so we'd like to win both of them."

He said Saturday's result at Newlands was irrelevant to how the Wallabies were feeling.

"Whether the Springboks won or lost we'd still go into the game with a bit of confidence," he said.

"We've got a lot of confidence within our group and within the players that we've got here so it doesn't matter which side we're playing against or the results that have happened previously.

"We know this game's going to be a tough game against the Springboks, we're not taking it lightly but within our squad we're confident in our own abilities."