Dubai: With their respective nations having crashed out in the semi-finals of last month's Rugby World Cup, yesterday's Emirates Airline Long Lunch guest speakers Scott Quinnell and Matt Giteau were in forward-thinking mode.
Australian fly-half Giteau, 29, earned 92 caps and scored 671 points between 2002 and 2011. Left out of the Wallabies' World Cup squad, he said of his nation's demise to eventual winners New Zealand: "I thought from afar that the guys were great when they opened up and tried to play some footy.
"The times when they weren't so successful was probably when they went away from what comes naturally for them and what the guys are suited to.
"The side was suitable to a running style and it seemed they went away from it at times, but it was a massive learning curve for those guys and if they are able to keep that core group together for the next four years, they will be very successful at the next World Cup."
‘Chalk and cheese'
"If you look at the Tri-Nations as compared to the World Cup semi its chalk and cheese. It's almost like a game of chess once you get into the finals. You just get field position and build points, whereas in the Tri-Nations, they were scoring tries and running from end to end. "It turns into a game you're trying not to lose rather than to win it."
Of bitter-rivals New Zealand, Giteau added: "Because they were so dominant, that eased the blow a little bit. "Had it been tighter or had Australia had more opportunities, then it would have hurt a lot more."
Quinnell, a former Welsh number eight who represented his country on 52 occasions and scored 55 points between 1993 and 2002, said of his country's World Cup: "I'm still distraught. It was a great tournament but from the Welsh point of view that sending off [of captain Sam Warburton] after 19 minutes against France in the semi-final was integral to the end of the dream."
As for a near return to the 1970's Welsh heyday, Quinnell said: "You can never compare eras as every era is different. "But we've never had a fitter, younger group of men coming through with such huge ability and self confidence. Together they have a wonderful team spirit and all the makings of a very good side. The biggest challenge is keeping this coaching and playing staff together in time for 2015."
