Australia
Don't know if I am up for Tests after absence: Giteau
ESPN Staff
May 8, 2015
Matt Giteau receives a pass, Toulon v Leinster, Heineken Cup, Stade Felix Mayol, April 6, 2014
Matt Giteau accepts that European club rugby is "different" and "slower" than Super Rugby © Getty Images
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Matt Giteau is offering "no promises" that he's up to representing Australia at a Rugby World Cup for a third time. But he's hoping to find out.

Giteau, his European Rugby Champions Cup-winning team-mate Drew Mitchell and veteran flanker George Smith are all in the mix for a Test recall after the Australian Rugby Union decision to relax eligibility rules to select overseas-based players with 60 caps and seven years' national service. Smith, 34, is understood not to be overly interested, but Giteau and Mitchell are firmly in coach Michael Cheika's sights after helping Toulon claim an unprecedented third consecutive European club title last weekend.

Statistics published by ESPN for Opta Sports show that Mitchell has beaten more defenders in Top 14 and European Rugby Champions Cup competition than all wingers except Toulouse flyer Maxime Medard, and the Australian said Mitchell that he and Giteau had received a congratulatory text message from Cheika after the cup final triumph at Twickenham.

"[Just about] his involvement in the European Championship and knowing how hard it is to win, let alone a few consecutively," Mitchell said. "Nothing further than that. I am still hoping I can get a bit of a ride on [Giteau's] coat tails."

Giteau, though, says Cheika must make a leap of faith to pick him for a Test comeback after almost four years in the international wilderness. Former Wallabies coach Robbie Deans overlooked Giteau for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand before the player departed for France.

"It is different," Giteau said on Fox Sports' Rugby HQ as he compared European club rugby and Super Rugby. "There is no question it is different. The game over here is a bit slower compared to Super Rugby. As far as Test rugby, it's really, really hard for me to say. The last time I played was in 2011.

"If am chosen, if I am selected, I would love to be a part of it, [but] I haven't played at that level [for four years], so I don't know if I am up for it. That's probably the biggest question. I would certainly love to test myself and give myself every chance to have a go at it. But there is no certainly no promises there."

The 92-Test star's candid confession that he harbours even the slightest of doubts will add to calls for Cheika to ask Giteau - and possibly Mitchell - to play in The Rugby Championship, to assess their international form, rather than gamble on a straight-out inclusion in his 31-man World Cup squad.

© AAP

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