Matt Giteau
Encyclopedia
Matthew Giteau is an Australian rugby union
footballer, a former international who now plays for the French
Top 14 side Toulon
. He attended St Edmund's College, Canberra
, which has produced other Wallabies
including George Gregan
, Matt Henjak
and the former rugby league
star and now coach Ricky Stuart
. He has so far gained 61 Super-14 caps and 92 Test caps.
Giteau is a utility back. His usual positions are inside-centre and fly-half, although he started his career as a scrum-half. He played for Australia for the first time in 2002 against England at Twickenham
and was named as one of the five best players in the world in 2004.
is a former rugby league
player, and his older sister Kristy is a dual-code rugby international for Australia. His wife Bianca (née Franklin) is a netball player with the Adelaide Thunderbirds
.
The Giteaus were married on the Gold Coast 11 December 2010.
ini 2002. During this time he won two Super 12 titles with the Brumbies in 2001 and 2004 and was a part of the Wallabies 2003 Rugby World Cup
campaign.
. He came off the bench in the first game in the series.
In 2007, Giteau was selected for the Wallabies Rugby World Cup 2007 and 2008 squad and was first choice No. 12. He also had gained 40 test points, putting him in the top scorer's list in the competition. Giteau was taking injuries into the match when the Wallabies lost in the quarter-final to England 10–12. After the Rugby World Cup had finished, Giteau was picked for the Barbarians team to face the winners that had won the Rugby World Cup that year, South Africa
. While playing in the No. 10 jersey, the Barbarians had won comfortably winning 22–5 and Giteau scoring a try
.
anointed Giteau as Australia's new fly-half, following the retirement of Wallaby legend Stephen Larkham. Giteau had made a good start at playing no.10 while facing Ireland and France in the mid year test and was also a good build-up for Giteau to play in the 10 jersey in the Tri Nations
.
in the Tri Nations, Giteau played in all six games and he started to become 'World Class' in the fly half position.
Had good games against the All Blacks
winning 34–22 at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney, and against South Africa winning 27–15 at Kings Park Stadium
in Durban
.
for three years (2007–2009). In 2007 the Force came seventh in the Super 14 season, recording their first home win (an 17–18 upset against the Hurricanes). In 2010 he moved back to Canberra and played again for the Brumbies for the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
, a move that would take effect after the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Despite not being selected for the Australia World Cup squad, he could not join Toulon until mid-November, as he was still under contract with the Australian Rugby Union
through the World Cup.
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
footballer, a former international who now plays for the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Top 14 side Toulon
RC Toulonnais
RC Toulonnais is a French professional rugby union club based in Toulon in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
. He attended St Edmund's College, Canberra
St Edmund's College, Canberra
St Edmund's College, is a private, Catholic, day school for boys, located in Griffith, a suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.The college was established in 1954 by the Christian Brothers as St Edmund's War Memorial College...
, which has produced other Wallabies
Australia national rugby union team
The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...
including George Gregan
George Gregan
George Musarurwa Gregan AM is an Australian rugby union halfback who has made more appearances for his national team than any other player in the sport's history....
, Matt Henjak
Matt Henjak
Matt Henjak is an Australian rugby union player. His position of choice is scrum-half. Henjak, of Croatian ancestry, is the nephew of former rugby league half-back and Brisbane Broncos head coach Ivan Henjak...
and the former rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
star and now coach Ricky Stuart
Ricky Stuart
Ricky Stuart is an Australian rugby league football coach and former player of the 1980s and 90s. He is currently the head coach of the New South Wales State of Origin team, having replaced Craig Bellamy following a fifth consecutive failure in the 2010 series...
. He has so far gained 61 Super-14 caps and 92 Test caps.
Giteau is a utility back. His usual positions are inside-centre and fly-half, although he started his career as a scrum-half. He played for Australia for the first time in 2002 against England at Twickenham
Twickenham Stadium
Twickenham Stadium is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000...
and was named as one of the five best players in the world in 2004.
Personal life
His father Ron GiteauRon Giteau
Ron Giteau is an Australian former professional rugby league player. A prolific point-scoring centre, he was captain of the Canberra Raiders team in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership...
is a former rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
player, and his older sister Kristy is a dual-code rugby international for Australia. His wife Bianca (née Franklin) is a netball player with the Adelaide Thunderbirds
Adelaide Thunderbirds
The Adelaide Thunderbirds are an Australian netball team based in Adelaide that currently compete in the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship. The Thunderbirds were formed as one of the foundation teams of the Commonwealth Bank Trophy , previously the premier netball league in Australia, which was...
.
The Giteaus were married on the Gold Coast 11 December 2010.
2001-2005
Giteau made his debut for the ACT Brumbies in 2001 and the WallabiesWallabies
A wallaby is the informal name for any of about thirty species of Australian animal.Wallaby may also refer to:* Wallaby ammunition carrier, a variant of the Canadian Ram tank* Wallaby , Japanese fantasy manga...
ini 2002. During this time he won two Super 12 titles with the Brumbies in 2001 and 2004 and was a part of the Wallabies 2003 Rugby World Cup
2003 Rugby World Cup
The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and Rugby World...
campaign.
2006–2007
In April 2006 he announced that he would play for Perth's Super-14 team, in the 2007 season. He was included in the Wallabies' 2006 mid-year rugby tests squad, but was ruled out with an injury. However he recovered in time for the 2006 Tri Nations Series2006 Tri Nations Series
-Week 2:-Week 3:-Week 4:* All Blacks retain Bledisloe Cup-Week 5:-Week 6:-Week 7:-Week 8:-Week 9:-External links:* * *...
. He came off the bench in the first game in the series.
In 2007, Giteau was selected for the Wallabies Rugby World Cup 2007 and 2008 squad and was first choice No. 12. He also had gained 40 test points, putting him in the top scorer's list in the competition. Giteau was taking injuries into the match when the Wallabies lost in the quarter-final to England 10–12. After the Rugby World Cup had finished, Giteau was picked for the Barbarians team to face the winners that had won the Rugby World Cup that year, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. While playing in the No. 10 jersey, the Barbarians had won comfortably winning 22–5 and Giteau scoring a try
Try
A try is the major way of scoring points in rugby league and rugby union football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area...
.
2008: Playing no.10
In 2008, new Wallabies Coach Robbie DeansRobbie Deans
Robert Maxwell Deans is the current coach of the Wallabies and former All Black. He is the former coach of the Crusaders. He also served as assistant to former All Blacks coach John Mitchell between late 2001 and 2003...
anointed Giteau as Australia's new fly-half, following the retirement of Wallaby legend Stephen Larkham. Giteau had made a good start at playing no.10 while facing Ireland and France in the mid year test and was also a good build-up for Giteau to play in the 10 jersey in the Tri Nations
Tri Nations
Tri Nations may refer to:In Rugby union:* Tri Nations , the former name of The Rugby Championship a competition featuring Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa* Pacific Tri-Nations, the series between Fiji, Samoa and Tonga...
.
in the Tri Nations, Giteau played in all six games and he started to become 'World Class' in the fly half position.
Had good games against the All Blacks
All Blacks
The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....
winning 34–22 at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney, and against South Africa winning 27–15 at Kings Park Stadium
Kings Park Stadium
Kings Park , is a stadium in the Kings Park Sporting Precinct in Durban, South Africa, which was originally built in 1891 and extensively renovated in the 1990s...
in Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
.
Super 15: Western Force & Brumbies
Giteau played for the Western ForceWestern Force
Western Force is a rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia playing in the international Super Rugby competition. They first competed in the 2006 season and finished with the wooden spoon in that year, however their performances greatly improved in 2007. In 2008 they finished in 8th...
for three years (2007–2009). In 2007 the Force came seventh in the Super 14 season, recording their first home win (an 17–18 upset against the Hurricanes). In 2010 he moved back to Canberra and played again for the Brumbies for the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
Move to France
During the 2011 Super Rugby season, Giteau signed with big-spending French club ToulonRC Toulonnais
RC Toulonnais is a French professional rugby union club based in Toulon in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
, a move that would take effect after the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Despite not being selected for the Australia World Cup squad, he could not join Toulon until mid-November, as he was still under contract with the Australian Rugby Union
Australian Rugby Union
The Australian Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Australia. It was founded in 1949 and is a member of the International Rugby Board the sport's governing body. It consists of eight member unions, representing each state and territory...
through the World Cup.
International tries
| Matt Giteau's international tries | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Try | |City/country | |Competition | Brisbane Brisbane Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of... , Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... | Suncorp Stadium Suncorp Stadium Lang Park is the original name of the site located in the Brisbane suburb of Milton, Queensland, Australia, now occupied by the major sports facility known by its sponsorship name, Suncorp Stadium... |
Rugby World Cup 2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and Rugby World... |
2003 |
| [2–4] | Adelaide Adelaide Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million... , Australia |
Adelaide Oval Adelaide Oval The Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the Central Business District and North Adelaide... |
Rugby World Cup | 2003 | ||
| [5] | Melbourne Melbourne Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater... , Australia |
Docklands Stadium | Hopetoun Cup Hopetoun Cup The Hopetoun Cup was established as a perpetual rugby union trophy between Australia and Scotland in 1998. In the spirit of the link between the two countries, it is named after the Seventh Earl of Hopetoun, a Scotsman, who, as the then Governor-General of Australia, presided over the Federation... |
2004 | ||
| [6–7] | Melbourne, Australia | Docklands Stadium | Test Match | 2004 | ||
| [8] | Glasgow Glasgow Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands... , Scotland Scotland Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the... |
Hampden Park Hampden Park Hampden Park is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The 52,063 capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland... |
Hopetoun Cup | 2004 | ||
| [9] | Melbourne, Australia | Docklands Stadium | Test Match | 2005 | ||
| [10–11] | Sydney Sydney Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people... , Australia |
Stadium Australia | Mandela Challenge Plate Mandela Challenge Plate The Nelson Mandela Challenge Plate is a rugby union trophy contested between Australia and South Africa. It is named after South Africa's first post-apartheid president, Nelson Mandela.... |
2005 | ||
| [12–13] | Brisbane, Australia | Suncorp Stadium | Tri Nations 2006 Tri Nations Series -Week 2:-Week 3:-Week 4:* All Blacks retain Bledisloe Cup-Week 5:-Week 6:-Week 7:-Week 8:-Week 9:-External links:* * *... |
2006 | ||
| [14] | Cardiff Cardiff Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for... , Wales Wales Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²... |
Millennium Stadium Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium is the national stadium of Wales, located in the capital, Cardiff. It is the home of the Wales national rugby union team and also frequently stages games of the Wales national football team, but is also host to many other large scale events, such as the Super Special Stage... |
Test Match | 2006 | ||
| [15] | Sydney, Australia | Stadium Australia | James Bevan Trophy James Bevan Trophy The James Bevan Trophy is a rugby union trophy which was created in 2007, and named after James Bevan, the Welsh Australian who was the first ever captain of the Wales rugby union team. The trophy was established after a decision on 10 May 2007 by the Welsh and Australian rugby unions to celebrate... |
2007 | ||
| Cape Town Cape Town Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality... , South Africa South Africa The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans... |
Newlands Stadium Newlands Stadium Newlands Stadium, currently referred to as DHL Newlands for sponsorship reasons, is located in Cape Town, South Africa.The stadium currently has a capacity of 51,900 people, but is not an all seater venue.... |
Tri Nations | 2007 | |||
| [17] | Sydney, Australia | Stadium Australia | Tri Nations | 2007 | ||
| [18] | Cardiff, Wales | Millennium Stadium | Rugby World Cup | 2007 | ||
| [19–20] | Montpellier Montpellier -Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council.... , France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... |
Stade de la Mosson Stade de la Mosson Stade de la Mosson is a football stadium in Montpellier, France. It is the home of Montpellier HSC and has a capacity of 32,900. Formerly a 16,000-seater stadium, it was entirely rebuilt in 1998 to host 6 games of the 1998 FIFA World Cup. It was also used as a venue for group stage matches in the... |
Rugby World Cup | 2007 | ||
| [21] | Sydney, Australia | Stadium Australia | Trophée des Bicentenaires Trophée des Bicentenaires To celebrate the bi-centenaries of Australia and of the French Revolution, in 1988 and 1989 respectively, the French Rugby Union donated the Trophée des Bicentenaires to be played in perpetuity between the two countries. It is a bronze sculpture featuring two players in a tackle. Although the... |
2007 | ||
| [22] | Canberra Canberra Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne... , Australia |
Canberra Stadium Canberra Stadium Canberra Stadium is a facility primarily used for rugby league and rugby union games, located adjacent to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, the capital of Australia... |
Test Match | 2009 | ||
| [23] | Sydney, Australia | Stadium Australia | Trophée des Bicentenaires | 2009 | ||
| [24] | Cape Town, South Africa | Newlands Stadium | Tri Nations | 2009 | ||
| [25–26] | Perth Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000.... , Australia |
Subiaco Oval Subiaco Oval Subiaco Oval , known colloquially as Subi, is the highest capacity sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia... |
Tri Nations | 2009 | ||
| [27–28] | Sydney, Australia | ANZ Stadium | Test Match | 2010 |