Giteau thanks Tuqiri but will miss Reds derby
By David Beniuk, 14 Apr 2008 David Beniuk is a Roar Pro
Western Force superstar Matt Giteau has thanked NSW winger Lote Tuqiri for rushing to his assistance following a sickening head knock during Saturday night’s 17-12 Super 14 loss to the Waratahs.
Tuqiri put his Wallaby team-mate’s health first, rushing to place Giteau in the recovery position before rejoining a Waratahs attacking raid and going on to win the man-of-the-match award in the Subiaco Oval derby.
Giteau was cleared of any major damage but today was ruled out of next Friday’s Suncorp Stadium clash with Queensland after suffering his third head knock this season.
The champion Wallaby was knocked senseless and taken from the field in a neck brace when he attempted a front-on tackle on Waratahs fullback Sam Norton-Knight in the 20th minute of the game.
The incident overshadowed the Waratahs surge into the top four as they grabbed Australian Super 14 bragging rights.
Elsewhere, the Brumbies kept their finals hopes alive with an impressive 16-11 win over the Blues in Auckland while Queensland rested up during their bye weekend.
“I remember everything from the game so it feels like nothing has happened,” Giteau said yesterday.
“The most disappointing thing is that I didn’t get to participate more in the game, because it is the type of game you want to be involved in.
“I spoke to Lote after the game when he came in to the dressing rooms and thanked him.
“It was a good thing to do, and I would like to think I would do the same thing for him.
“I came to on the field when I was being put on the stretcher, it was scary because the medical staff were asking if I could move my fingers.
“They were just being over cautious I guess.”
Medical staff have ordered Giteau to stay off his feet until Wednesday, when he will be checked by a neurosurgeon in Perth.
The Force, who have now won only four of 16 home games since joining the Super rugby fold, have their bye after next weekend’s Reds clash and Giteau is expected to return for the game against the Chiefs in Perth on May 3.
Meanwhile, the Waratahs were supposedly in crisis just two weeks ago but last night progressed to a 6-2 win-loss record and jumped from sixth to fourth on 26 points behind unbeaten New Zealanders the Crusaders (38), South Africa’s Sharks (31) and the Wellington-based Hurricanes (=26).
NSW notched their third straight win and their finals hopes look to be on track as they have a game in hand over the fifth-placed Blues (25) and sixth-placed Force (24).
The Brumbies (20) are ninth and the Reds (12) 10th.
Waratahs captain Phil Waugh, whose knee injury is unlikely to sideline him for any game time, said his players had always felt their season was on track even as the speculation had swirled about coach Ewen McKenzie’s contract.
“It seemed to be sort of a storm in a tea cup as advocated by the media really, about how we were going, so amongst the squad it’s always felt pretty good,” he told AAP.
Waugh said the win had set up the back end of the Waratahs’ campaign, in which they will meet only one side – the Sharks – above them on the ladder.
But he said there would be no complacency.
“The Sharks are one of the top sides, the (seventh placed) Stormers are near enough as well,” he said.
“Then you’ve got the Bulls in Pretoria which is always tough and the Reds in Queensland who always get up for that game, particularly (as) they’ve got nothing else to play for except to play for that game this year.”
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Terry Kidd said | April 14th 2008 @ 9:29am | Report comment
I’m glad to see that Lote Tuqiri’s actual character, that I had glimpsed years ago when refereeing him in Touch football in Brisbane, seems to be breaking thru to the general public. I had always found him to be polite and respectful, but also very competitive, so it seemed to me that the headlines written around him in recent years were not representative of the real man.
I didn’t get to see this game and would really love to see some insights from Roar readers into the actual play throughout the game …. the sort of stuff you don’t get from reading the newspapers. Has anyone who saw the game got any comments?
stuff happens said | April 14th 2008 @ 3:48pm | Report comment
I was extremely concerned to read in the SMH this morning that Matt Giteau’s injury is the third concussion he has had this season ( Greg G sports section).I hope he is receiving good advice. Rugby codes have a reputation of not being rigorous enough in treating head trauma properly.
Harry said | April 14th 2008 @ 5:21pm | Report comment
Terry from what we see I think Lote lost his way somewhat in recent years with the dread agents and other hangers-on over-praising him and telling him he was fabulous and rugby didn’t deserve his brilliance etc etc. Watch the documentary on the Rabbitohs last year – I found it quite revealing the way they courted Lote. As has been discussed countless times on this site and others, its one of the regretable by-products of professionalism and modern day sports that these generally poorly educated young men (a generalisation I know but footballers who would be of tertiary education standard are relatively few these days) have too much money and time at their disposal, and a whole host of bad influences that leads to poor attitudes to their coach/team/supporters, and shabby behaviour off the field.
Lote has clearly lifted his game this year both on and off the field and that is to his credit, I hope it continues. I think a big problem for him is that he lost the explosive pace of his youth (under 25) and was overly-muscled, and he needs to find that confidence again.
It was good to hear the crowd spontaneously applauding Lote – they showed ithe close up on the screens at the game of Lote stopping to roll Giteau on his side and check he wasn’t in serious trouble during the injury break – as well as to hear the cheer when Giteau gave the thumps up from the stretcher on his way off the field.
Harry said | April 14th 2008 @ 5:42pm | Report comment
As to the game itself it was typical of the modern style – tough, defence dominated attritional, with few breaks, played with high intensity, in the balance right till the final whistle – and well after the 80 mins were up. The Force scrum is, alas, a joke and I suspect they will founder this year because of this weakness. Apart from the scrum, the forward battle was very even, no clear winner in the backrow matchups or second rows – no floppsy from Sharpe, hopefully he’s eliminated this!
Mackay did very well coming on afer Giteau’s injury and Horne can join the growing list of exciting emerging backline talent in Aus.
One area i’d like to see is crisper, faster passing from the scrum and rucks by the halfbacks – we don’t see the dive pass from Australian helfbacks these days, and too often we see the three step sideways shuffle – “perfected” by george gregan in the second half of his career – by the number 9 slowing down the ball and giving the other backs no room to work with. O’Young is guilty of the gregan sideshuffle and its noticeable that the Force attack looks better when that Stannard bloke is at 9.
Davo said | April 14th 2008 @ 5:56pm | Report comment
The backrow battle was very intense…it was pretty even between Waugh and Pocock, though Pocock couldnt get the benefit of the doubt with the referee on a few occasions and got pinged at the breakdown. Richard Brown, he of the pre-season nudie run was the pick of the 6 backrowers with Cliffy Palu pretty prominent also. Was interesting to see both sides run multiple guys at first receiver – Tahs had SNK and Beale and the Force were using Drew Mitchell at 1st receiver quite a bit late in the game when play was starting to get a bit more frantic. Both young Force second-rowers look like great prospects – Hockings and Sykes. Maybe not quite the dominant forces the Wallabies need at the line-out just yet but around the ground they did a lot more than Sharpe, Caldwell and Vickerman IMO.
The halfback spot for the Wallabies is still wide open. Burgess was solid but with the Tahs on the poor end of possesion and territory most of the time he was on, it wasnt a game for him to be showing off his attacking skills. O-Young and Stannard were both reasonable and over in NZ, both Phibbs and Holmes looked sharp and superior to the Blues 2 halfbacks without being outstanding. And of course Sam C is still lurking for the Reds but his age and recent run of injuries has to be a serious negative
Terry Kidd said | April 15th 2008 @ 5:08am | Report comment
G’day Harry,
Generally I agree mate, but I would not say that Lote is uneducated or unintelligent. In fact quite the opposite. I have seen him in action at a trivia night and he is very knowledgeable.
But yeah, probably too much limelight may have been distracting him. If he has turned it around, and his form this year would seem to suggest that he has, then good luck to him.
Cheers,
Terry Kidd said | April 15th 2008 @ 5:13am | Report comment
I think one reason that halfbacks rarely get to quickly clear the ball from the back of scrums these days is that the laws and refs allow the opposing halfback too much leeway in how far they can come from their own side of the scrum to spoil ball. How often do you see the defending halfback hanging over the attacking halfback while he is still waiting for the ball to come clear?
I reckon if that part of the game is cleaned up then we will see more attack from scrums ….. and that would be a good thing, plus it would help reinforce the importance of a good scrum which may help to make the ELVs more acceptable to the NH unions.