Caesar’s assassin?

HE HASN’T read the Australian newspapers online, and he’s tip-toed around the praise that’s come his way since stepping into the scrum half position for the two tests against Wales and Italy.

But it’s a big story in Australia: Matt Giteau, nominally an inside centre, inheriting — whether permanently or not — the No 9 shirt from Wallaby icon, George Gregan. His move to scrum-half, where he played at schools level up to the age of 19, has created a stir. A positive one.

If he’s borrowing the jersey, he’s offering a more exciting, brasher alternative to Gregan’s predictable output of late. However, some Aussie newspapers draw analogies between Giteau’s ascent and a role akin to “Caesar’s assassin.”