Kristy Giteau is more used to being asked about her
brother's sporting career than her own, but if Australia do
well at Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 in England next month then
all that could change.
The older sister of Wallabies star Matt was a relative
latecomer to rugby union, having taken up the sport just five years
ago, but with a sporting pedigree that had already seen her
represent Australia, once she took up the game she was always
likely to rise to the top.
The Tuggeranong Vikings club wing has previously represented
her country in rugby league, while also toured China and the USA
with the Australian schoolgirls' basketball team.
"Rugby league was my first contact sport back in
2000," explained the 29-year-old. "My Dad was roped into
coaching the local team and he wanted some speed out wide so
brought me along with him.
"I played for three years and it was a great experience
but I guess union had more of a pull on me because it's so
diverse in its reach and there were more international
opportunities.
Brotherly advice
"I grew up watching my three brothers playing but I
really only took rugby up socially. I played for a while and then I
went to Canada to travel for a time and when I came back I got back
into it mainly because I missed my buddies.
"I managed to make the state team and then the nationals
and then I was selected in the squad to play Samoa which was our
World Cup qualifier."
Australia were comfortable 87-0 winners in that Oceania
play-off last August and it was then that Giteau, among the
Wallaroos' try scorers at Apia Park in the Samoan capital,
really tapped into her younger brother's experience with the
Wallabies.
"When I found out I was in the team to play Samoa I
called him up and his advice was to not let it overwhelm me because
if you do it takes away from your natural game, so I thought about
how fortunate I was to be there and was glad to be able to ask
someone so experienced at a time like that."
Australia are coming to the World Cup with less games under
their belts in the past year than any other team at the
competition. It's a far from ideal situation, but Giteau
insists that the Wallaroos have made the best of it.
"We have a central strength and conditioning coach and
the ARU oversees our training in each region. We don't get much
time together as a squad at all but this year by the time we go to
London we'll have had three camps as a squad.
Real hunger for success
"The camp before we leave we'll be using to work on
our game play and really just building the camaraderie in the squad
as much as anything.
"It's true that we don't play many games as a
team, but I would say that the standard of the game domestically
here is very high and getting better all the time. The state teams
are very competitive and though we don't have those central
opportunities to get together, the teams we are playing on are very
strong and are of a high intensity."
Australia haven't been dormant on the international scene
since the last World Cup in Canada, having played New Zealand four
times and of course they scaled huge heights last year when winning
the first ever Women's Rugby World Cup Sevens crown - success
Giteau admits has boosted confidence levels.
"We're coming to the World Cup without as many games
as the other teams but that's the way the cookie crumbles and
we have to be positive about our chances. There is a real hunger
for success at the 15-a-side World Cup after the Sevens World Cup
victory last year and more than anything we want to improve on how
we did four years ago.
"The Sevens success and the fact that a lot of those
girls are in the World Cup squad going to London is a big bonus for
us as a squad and it means that a lot of our backs especially know
each other very well and have played together plenty. A lot of us
were at the Hong Kong Sevens so there is a lot of togetherness in
how we attack."
"The big one"
Australia have been handed a tough pool draw at the World Cup
with an opener against Wales on 20 August, followed by encounters
with defending champions New Zealand and the fast improving South
Africans at four day intervals at Surrey Sports Park in Guildford.
"Our coaches have been updating us all year with how the
other teams are preparing, especially the other three teams in our
pool," revealed Giteau. "We are well aware of how tough a
pool we are in and we're not going in there blind."
While all of Australia's games will be tough, their match
against New Zealand will be one of the highlights of the pool
stages. The two countries are fierce rivals in every sport and
although the Wallaroos have never beaten their neighbours at the
15-a-side game, they have won three meetings in Sevens, including
the RWC Sevens final in Dubai.
"The New Zealand game is obviously going to be a big
one. There's a lot of history between the two countries in
sport and it doesn't matter what game it is, cricket, touch,
league you name it, there is always a massive desire to beat each
other.
"It's going to be a very tough game and both of us
will find another gear I'm sure for it but there's a big
incentive for us to win."
If Australia can transfer their Sevens success to the
15-a-side game, then Giteau and her Wallaroos' teammates will
write a piece of rugby history as the first nation to unite the two
World Cups, something not yet achieved in the men's Game.
Ali Donnelly is the editor of Women's Rugby website
www.scrumqueens.com.
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