Matt Giteau has called time on his professional career with a heartfelt social media post.
The 40-year-old – who started his pro career with the Brumbies 22 years ago and played in the 2003 World Cup – played more than 100 times for the Wallabies. He last played for the LA Giltinis in Major League Rugby – a club which was recently wound up.
“Just wanted to announce my retirement from professional rugby union. Half my life spent playing this great game professionally and travelling the world getting to do it,” wrote Giteau.
“Forever grateful to all my many coaches, staff members, referees and touch judges along the way.
“And of course a big thank you to my many teammates that helped me play and grow as a player and a person. So many great friendships made and some unbelievable memories created along the way.”
Thank you
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— Matt Giteau ???????? (@giteau_rugby) February 2, 2023
He went on to pay special mention to his wife and kids for sacrificing so much in moving schools, countries and from friends so “I could continue to play and chase my dreams”.
Giteau also thanked his family for their support before signing off with “It’s been such an amazing experience and one that I will miss but I have milked this game and the contracts dry” with a laughing emoji.
His former teammate Drew Mitchell raised the prospect of Giteau joining up with his former coach Eddie Jones in an official capacity.
Aussie quartet to light up 6N
Eddie Jones may have departed the European rugby scene – but there’ll still be a real Australian flavour to the Six Nations Championship when the tournament kicks off this weekend.
While Jones has left England to rediscover his rugby roots back home as Wallabies coach, four Aussie players who’ve been plying their trade expertly in Britain and Ireland are out to make an impact on the field.
Because when Ireland and Scotland named their teams on Thursday for the weekend’s opening matches, the two squads featured a quartet of Aussies who’ve qualified to play for their adopted rugby countries through family ties.
The most striking selection was Ireland coach Andy Farrell giving Canberra-born prop forward Finlay Bealham his first-ever Six Nations start at the age of 31 on Saturday in the heat of Cardiff’s Principality Stadium furnace.
Finlay Bealham. (Photo By Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
Bealham, who plays for Irish provincial side Connacht, qualifies for the national team through his Northern Irish grandmother and has already racked up 27 caps.
But 23 of those have come as a replacement, and this time he’s being asked to take a big step up by replacing Ireland’s injured star man Tadhg Furlong.
After deputising at tighthead and coming off the bench to impress in previous outings, though, Farrell feels he deserves his crack.
“He’s playing some outstanding rugby at this moment in time. The last game he played, he scored a hat-trick, he’s scrummaging very well, so he deserves a start,” said Farrell.
“Finlay’s a massive personality within our squad, he’s very popular … his performances have been top-drawer.”
Mack Hansen. (Photo By Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
The Canberra-Connacht connection has also seen Mack Hansen, whose mum hails from Cork, selected for another cap for Ireland, with the winger looking to repeat his man-of-the-match performance in last year’s equivalent fixture against the Welsh.
In the Scottish ranks to face England at Twickenham in the Calcutta Cup, Sione Tuipulotu will start in the centre, winning his 12th cap and hoping to add to his first tries for Scotland notched up in the November win over Argentina.
The 25-year-old Victorian Tuipulotu, a former Australia under-20 international whose Scottish grandmother comes from Greenock, will be joined in the Scotland 23 by his Glasgow Warriors teammate Jack Dempsey, Sydney’s ex-Wallabies flanker who’ll come off the bench to win his fifth cap.
After his last appearance for Australia at the 2019 World Cup, Dempsey was able to switch allegiance to Scotland, the home of his maternal grandfather, following a three-year Test absence.
Tuilagi axed for England’s opener
Steve Borthwick has shaken Manu Tuilagi by the hand and told him his international career is not over – but only after he dropped him for England’s Six Nations opener against Scotland.
Tuilagi, a veteran of 50 caps, a regular choice for the Red Rose for much of the past decade and a favourite of previous coach Eddie Jones, was not even named in Borthwick’s 23-man squad as England’s head coach laid down an emphatic marker with his new-look maiden side.
Joe Marchant takes the 31-year-old Tuilagi’s place in the England line-up, with Marcus Smith and captain Owen Farrell to resume their contentious play-making axis for Saturday’s Calcutta Cup clash at Twickenham.
Wing Ollie Hassell-Collins has been handed his first cap in a rejigged midfield following injuries to Elliot Daly, Henry Slade and Dan Kelly in the build-up to this weekend’s fixture.
Ben Curry will be awarded his first cap against major opposition following his debut in an underwhelming victory over the United States nearly two years ago.
England’s Manu Tuilagi. (Photo by David Rogers – RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)
Lewis Ludlam joins Curry as the other flanker, with Alex Dombrandt at number eight, while Jamie George starts at hooker after overcoming concussion sustained in Saracens’ defeat by Edinburgh on January 22.
But it was Tuilagi’s glaring omission which provided the proof of a new dawn at England following the sorry end to Eddie Jones’ tenure at the end of last year.
“I am picking the team for this week, and there is competition for places,” said Borthwick, when quizzed about Tuilagi’s failure to make it into his matchday squad.
“The nature is that there should always be good players not in the 23 because that is what we want with England. We want depth in every position, and players fighting for the shirt.
“This is the selection for this game, against a specific opponent, and next week is a new week.”
Asked how Tuilagi reacted, Borthwick, 43, replied: “Manu was the incredible professional that he is. We spoke, I told him what I had decided, selection-wise, and why I had.
“We shook hands and then he went and trained really hard and that reaction is testimony to him and his character.”
Veteran fullback Stuart Hogg has recovered from injury to take his place in Scotland’s side at Twickenham.
Hogg will win his 97th cap on Saturday despite having missed matches at club level over the last weeks. The 30-year-old, who had a heel injury, was named in an experienced line-up by coach Gregor Townsend on Thursday as Scotland bid to retain the Calcutta Cup.
Blindside flanker Jamie Ritchie leads the team in the Six Nations for the first time, having replaced Hogg as captain last year, and is joined at openside by Luke Crosbie, whose excellent recent form is rewarded with a second start for Scotland.
Pierre Schoeman starts at loosehead prop for a 17th consecutive international since his 2021 debut, but the rest of the front row is changed from the side that beat Argentina 52-29 at Murrayfield in November in Scotland’s last Test, with WP Nel returning at tighthead and George Turner at hooker.
Ben White has been chosen ahead of Ali Price to partner stand-off Finn Russell while Huw Jones takes Chris Harris’ place at centre. Kyle Steyn is in for Darcy Graham on the wing.
England team: Steward (Leicester); Malins (Saracens), Marchant (Harlequins), Farrell (Saracens, capt), Hassell-Collins (London Irish); Smith (Harlequins), Van Poortvliet (Leicester); Genge (Bristol), George (Saracens), Sinckler (Bristol), Itoje (Saracens), Chessum (Leicester), Ludlam (Northampton), Curry (Sale), Dombrandt (Harlequins).
Replacements: Walker (Harlequins), Vunipola (Saracens), Cole (Leicester), Isiekwe (Saracens), Earl (Saracens), Youngs (Leicester), Lawrence (Bath), Watson (Leicester).
Scotland squad: Stuart Hogg, Kyle Steyn, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu, Duhan van der Merwe, Finn Russell, Ben White, Matt Fagerson, Luke Crosbie, Jamie Ritchie (capt), Grant Gilchrist, Richie Gray, WP Nel, George Turner, Pierre Schoeman. Replacements: Fraser Brown, Jamie Bhatti, Simon Berghan, Jonny Gray, Jack Dempsey, George Horne, Blair Kinghorn, Chris Harris.
Cotter steps down as Fiji coach
New Zealander Vern Cotter has stepped down as Fiji’s coach little more than eight months out from the Rugby World Cup in France.
Fiji Rugby Union chairman Humphrey Tawake told a hastily arranged news conference in Suva on Thursday that Cotter’s resignation for undisclosed personal reasons was accepted.
He added that a new coach would be appointed “in due course”, saying he hoped it would be this month.
Cotter was assisted by fellow New Zealanders Daryl Gibson and Glen Jackson in Fiji. In a statement, Cotter expressed regret for his sudden departure.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the players and coaches I have worked with during my time with the team,” he said.
“I feel the team has made some significant improvements over the last few years both on and off the field.
“I believe we built a great culture which was testament to some good people working hard and enjoying each other’s company and I’m disappointed to be leaving at this time.”
(Photo By Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
Cotter coached Fiji for three years and oversaw ten Tests with wins against Georgia, Tonga and Spain.
Previously, he’d been the coach of Scotland, leading them to the 2015 World Cup quarter-finals.
Cotter has also led New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty and French clubs Clermont and Montpellier.
Cotter is the latest head coach to leave his role close to the World Cup. England’s Eddie Jones, Wales’ Wayne Pivac and Australia’s Dave Rennie had also been dismissed, though Jones has since gone on to take over from Rennie.
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