Giteau expecting heavy traffic

Wallaby pivot Matt Giteau is anticipating a testing night of defending in Auckland on Saturday as he expects a more direct New Zealand onslaught down his channel in Bledisloe Two.

Wallaby pivot Matt Giteau is anticipating a testing night of defending in Auckland on Saturday as he expects a more direct New Zealand onslaught down his channel in Bledisloe Two.

The pocket-sized Giteau and fellow playmaker and inside-centre Berrick Barnes both had their share of defensive duties last weekend in Sydney when Australia claimed a 34-19 result.

And despite their best efforts, the All Blacks got little change out of the two lightly-framed Australian backs, with Barnes in particular excelling defensively in winning many plaudits.

The confident Barnes and Giteau, who both weigh in at well under 90kg, concede plenty of size to New Zealand's hard-running inside centre Ma' Nonu, listed at 104kg.

However, the duo remain light-hearted regarding statistics as they go about their defensive jobs in a tough manner.

“You do expect to get a lot of traffic coming at us, if you combine us together, we're maybe only about the weight of Ma'a Nonu, so we're always going to get targeted,” Giteau said, speaking to AAP.

“We do expect that, but having said that I thought Berrick defended really well on the weekend and he is a good defender in general.

“So they will probably target me more than they will Berrick.”

While both Barnes and Giteau are renowned for their creative abilities, the latter believed defence was more important individually than attack.

“Your ability to score points I think relies on the rest of the team doing their job. Defensively being able to stop points being put on you is an individual thing,” Giteau continued.

“They did score one try (last weekend) when (New Zealand fly-half) Dan Carter bumped me, so that was something I was pretty disappointed about from a personal point of view.”