DEEP into the final 20 minutes of tonight's Bledisloe Cup drama, there is one player the Wallabies will look to for the "call", the next chess move. Inevitably, it is George Gregan. He is the Iceman , a tag the seemingly indestructible halfback deserves to share with the implacable Test cricketer who wore the same badge for his composure.
George is the Steve Waugh of rugby. He is almost waiting for the final 20-minute period to start, backline soulmate Stephen Larkham said. You'd almost put money on this one going down to the final 10 because that's where so many big Tests are decided.
George takes over the calls. It's experience, it's making the right plays, it's being the player others look towards. Every team needs it.
The Wallabies need it. Gregan was the master of those tight situations when the Wallabies ruled the rugby world between 1999 and 2001. It was his flick pass to Owen Finegan that sent the burly back-rower hurtling 10, 20 and finally 35m to the tryline to settle the 1999 World Cup decider against France in Cardiff.
If a new breed of men in gold are to learn to close out the biggest Tests hopefully at a chilly MCG tonight Gregan will again be at the core with his chirping, raised-eyebrow energy. It is so often an undefinable in sport. Fittingly, given tonight's opponents, the Kiwis have the perfect word Tana Umaga had it in bucketfuls.
That innate authority and respect of the team's talisman is why he will be named World Cup captain next month. It will be an extraordinary final lap for Gregan, written off so many times slowing feet and pass that a small rainforest in Borneo has been pulped by now to provide the newsprint. Now has he hung in and recharged those 34-year-old pistons to such a degree the No.
9 jumper is his again without challenge? John Connolly's first coffee as Wallaby coach early last year was shared with Gregan. He quietly outlined the extras he needed for the venerable halfback to remain viable.
To Gregan's credit, he has worked on sniping more to occupy defenders close to the ruck. He is now also one of the key rush defenders in Australia's new defence system. Instead of deathriding halfback experiment Matt Giteau, he helped him at every turn.
He's more relaxed this season too . DEEP into the final 20 minutes of tonight's Bledisloe Cup drama, there is one player the Wallabies will look to for the "call", the next chess move.
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