Australia's Matt Giteau is expecting Luke Burgess to bounce back from his Eden Park performance © Getty Images

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Wallabies fly-half Matt Giteau has spoken out in defence of under-fire half-back partner Luke Burgess and is confident he can bounce back from his below-par outing in Auckland last weekend.

Scrum-half Burgess has been criticised for his personal error count in the wake of Australia's 22-16 defeat to New Zealand in their opening Tri-Nations clash at Eden Park. His wayward kicking led to the All Blacks' only try, while his second half obstruction cost the Wallabies three crucial points at a vital stage of the match.

But Giteau refused to criticise the Waratahs number nine and he believes the 25-year-old remains the best man for the job when Robbie Deans' men return to action in two weeks time to face South Africa in Cape Town.

"Everyone has an off game I think if you look at my performance or anyone's performance we weren't perfect. No one played well consistently for that full 80 minutes so I think it's unfair to blame just one player."

"I think Burgey's going great. Obviously it's his second year of full international rugby and he's certainly shown the composure. If you look at the first three games he was certainly one of our best players every week so I think he's improving and going well."

"The biggest thing at this level of football is getting that confidence and instilling that in him and I think he's just got to look at his previous games where he was playing well and I think that's all he needs."

Burgess refused to be drawn on his critics saying that the media "are entitled to their opinions" and he welcomed the challenge of up and coming rival Will Genia. The 21-year-old impressed off the bench in Auckland but Burgess insists he's concentrating on his own game.

"I don't tend to focus on other people too much but he's certainly been a talented player and it's great to be part of a group that's very competitive." he said.

Giteau agreed that Genia played well, but he reiterated his opinion that it will take a big job to displace Burgess in the number nine shirt.

"He was good Will, he's obviously a very skilful player. He adapted to the way we like to play very quickly, he gets along with the boys well. Having said that I think Luke's training and playing just as well so it's good that we've got that depth in the half-back position."

The Brumbies' star feels that Australia are on the up, but was disappointed that they left a victory behind in New Zealand on Saturday. And he believes that Robbie Deans' men need to take the plus points on board from the Eden Park defeat and move on.

"Every loss hurts, that one was certainly one that we felt got away and we were our own worst enemies" he said. "I think when that happens it certainly hurts and every Test match you lose is devastating, but that one in particular because of the history would have been nice to get it."

"I think you've got to take the positives out of every performance and if you look at where we were this time last year, obviously in similar conditions (at Eden Park), we've taken huge steps forward. But having said that, it's still disappointing to lose."