Brumbies to aim Mortlock at Giteau
The Brumbies have revealed they will target Matt Giteau by aiming barnstorming centre Stirling Mortlock at his Wallabies teammate in Saturday's Super 14 clash with the Western Force.
Champion five-eighth Giteau will make his first appearance at Canberra Stadium since announcing his intention to quit the Force after this season and return to the national capital, where he played between 2003-06.
There will be no warm welcome from his new teammates, though, with Mortlock primed for a role sapping the No.10's creative energy.
"A lot of the time we'll be probably trucking Stirlo at him and just making him have to make some of those tackles and just take him out of the play as much as possible," Brumbies flanker Julian Salvi told reporters on Thursday.
"We've got to make sure we're doing our job for 2009 and he's the enemy at this point in time so we'll be going out there to put as much pressure as we can on him.
"He's the linchpin in their team and he directs where they go and the flow of the play so for us one of our main keys is to target him."
Giteau's decision was the latest setback for the Force, whose season has begun with an inquiry into coach John Mitchell's methods and two far from impressive performances for one win.
The Perth-based side begin a run of three games on the road on Saturday, with games against New Zealand sides the Chiefs and Crusaders to follow in the next two weeks.
Mitchell has made five changes to his side for this week's clash, while the unbeaten Brumbies retain the same line-up which pipped the Crusaders last week.
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