{"id":190477,"date":"2022-01-25T03:06:04","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T04:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=190477"},"modified":"2022-01-25T20:58:48","modified_gmt":"2022-01-25T20:58:48","slug":"why-wallabies-legend-will-play-on-at-age-39","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=190477","title":{"rendered":"Why Wallabies legend will play on at age 39"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Wallabies great Matt\u00a0Giteau\u00a0has ditched retirement plans and will play on in 2022 for the Los Angeles\u00a0Giltinis in the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Giteau guided the Giltinis to a Major League Rugby title last year and the playmaker\u00a0said both the rugby and life experience in LA had convinced him that he wanted more and could play on at 39.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&quot;The 2021 season with the\u00a0Giltinis\u00a0was such a really positive experience, both in terms of the rugby and my young family living in Los Angeles,&quot;\u00a0Giteau\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Watch the 2022 Six Nations Championship season on Stan Sport, ad-free, live and on demand.<\/em><\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stan.com.au\/rugby?utm_source=wwos&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_campaign=rugby\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Start your 7-day free trial\u00a0here\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong><em>Start your seven day free trial here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"27028120-6194-404d-a6b9-bf66152d7d05\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/27028120-6194-404d-a6b9-bf66152d7d05\" alt=\"\" data-width=\"3179\" data-height=\"2384\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;When you win it magnifies any type of experience you have.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I was really content with the way things finished.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;It was such a super season to end up with a championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>LIVE UPDATES:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/tennis\/australian-open-2022-live-results-scores-day-9-ash-barty-nick-kyrgios-rafael-nadal-gael-monfils\/43339a18-3753-425d-8053-bdf9660b5ea8\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"\"><strong>Barty, Kyrgios and Nadal headline blockbuster day<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/news\/olympic-gymnastics-champion-szilveszter-csollany-dies-after-covid19-infection\/5dd8d712-256a-4208-89cf-cdd6c82f6cf1\"><strong>Former Olympic gymnastics champion dies from COVID-19<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/nrl-news-the-mole-newcastle-knights-reece-walsh-curtis-scott\/c8fe8c5b-1b0b-4bdc-8fd8-35d176b0f980\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"\"><strong>Junior boxing champ shock contender for Newcastle Knights<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"38f946ab-1551-4807-8275-945f22b39487\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/38f946ab-1551-4807-8275-945f22b39487\" alt=\"\" data-width=\"3467\" data-height=\"2312\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;It was a month or two after last season that I started to entertain the idea of playing on. When the\u00a0Giltinis\u00a0showed interest in me coming back,\u00a0it got\u00a0serious.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&quot;My wife Bianca has changed her life to suit me many times but when she was keen and the kids were pumped for more of LA, it made the decision an easy one.&quot;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Giteau&#x27;s\u00a0fitness work in his Australian home city of Canberra had him in good shape when he arrived for his first session with the\u00a0Giltinis\u00a0last Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"c42c7835-105c-4793-b337-cd011f8aa6e1\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/c42c7835-105c-4793-b337-cd011f8aa6e1\" alt=\"\" data-width=\"1052\" data-height=\"828\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The 103-Test international brings a winner&#x27;s edge to playing flyhalf and leading the backline.<\/p>\n<p>His hunger to keep pushing himself is one reason why his two-decade career sparkles with seven elite\u00a0trophies\u00a0in Australia (Brumbies), France (Toulon), Japan (Suntory) and the US (Giltinis).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He was named man-of-the-match when the\u00a0Giltinis\u00a0beat Rugby ATL 31-17 in the MLR final last August at the LA Memorial Coliseum.<\/p>\n<p>A straightening run and one-handed off-load set-up the first John Ryberg try and a pinpoint chip kick set up another.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Giteau\u00a0is excited about the squad the\u00a0Giltinis\u00a0have assembled and the fresh challenge of the club&#x27;s second season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"d711e6a2-a0a3-4629-a42b-f0a575923402\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/75a298b5-ada3-45eb-867b-50a131b8ba53\" alt=\"Matt Giteau\" data-width=\"582\" data-height=\"320\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;Retaining 80 per cent of the squad is a good feat in itself. Just turning up to training and feeling that familiarity with the boys has been excellent,&quot;\u00a0Giteau\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I&#x27;m under no illusions about my age. Tas Smith, our new halfback, was born a year before I made my Test debut in 2002.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;My body feels great but there&#x27;s a lot of hard work for everyone ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&quot;We know we are the target for every team in MLR. We&#x27;ll get it every week with teams always wanting to measure themselves against the team that won it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"a916a0a7-baa5-4d2e-885c-383151991752\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/a916a0a7-baa5-4d2e-885c-383151991752\" alt=\"\" data-width=\"4265\" data-height=\"2843\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;We want the same success in 2022 but as our head coach Stephen Hoiles says: &#x27;anything we did last year won&#x27;t be good enough.&#x27; We need to find more.&quot;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>First-year head coach Hoiles &#8211; who has taken the reins from new Waratahs boss Darren Coleman &#8211; was naturally delighted to keep Giteau around.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;His best game for the\u00a0Giltinis\u00a0was his last game in the Championship game. That&#x27;s the sort of competitor he is,&quot; Hoiles said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"51c38262-0ba7-4194-9115-042d779d1c27\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/51c38262-0ba7-4194-9115-042d779d1c27\" alt=\"Israel Folau\" data-width=\"1396\" data-height=\"785\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;Straight after the final, there was a sense that maybe it was a good time to bow out for him but a month later the indications\u00a0were\u00a0he might go again. It&#x27;s a credit to LA and how good a time he and his family have had here.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&quot;With Dave Dennis and Gits, they feel the job is not yet done at the\u00a0Giltinis&#8230; they want to set up the club for success over 10 years, not just one or two.&quot;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0Giltinis\u00a0season kicks off on February 27 against the New England Free Jacks.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/login.nine.com.au\/login?client_id=wwos&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwwos.nine.com.au&amp;newsletter=true\" title=\"clicking here!\"><strong><em>clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Wallabies great Matt\u00a0Giteau\u00a0has ditched retirement plans and will play on in 2022 for the Los Angeles\u00a0Giltinis in the United States.\u00a0 Giteau guided the Giltinis to <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=190477\" title=\"Why Wallabies legend will play on at age 39\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190477"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=190477"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":190479,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190477\/revisions\/190479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=190477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=190477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=190477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}