One of the great things about having Matt Giteau's safe hands at inside centre is he can catch the Luke Burgess passes that go over Quade Cooper's head.

Giteau might be busy.

Poor Burgess. He's clearly a confidence player with oodles of ability, but his pass from the base is inconsistent at best. Not what the purists are looking for in a scrum half.

Let's face it, one of the few (cruelly) entertaining things at several of the annoying Waratahs games this year was watching Burgess fling the ball like he was a basketball player hoping to hit the hoop from half court.

Australia's coach Robbie Deans has been patient with Burgess, but surely, as the Wallabies open the test season against Fiji in Canberra on Saturday, the New South Wales No. 9 is walking the selection tightrope, despite the absence of other quality backup for injured first choice, Will Genia.

After all, the irresistible force this season has been Cooper at five eighth. Unfortunately Burgess's service against Fiji might result in doing what opposition teams have failed to do throughout the Super 14 - negate Cooper as an attacking threat.
If Burgess can't provide Cooper with decent ball he must go (there's always the AFL, Luke, they can't pass either and clearly, they'll take anyone).

Genia's incredible play selection and pass was 50 percent of the reason his Reds No. 10 looked like an attacking genius all year.
If Burgess starts lobbing those air balls, Cooper may as well book his hospital bed right now and Deans can seriously contemplate being embarrassed, if not beaten, by an understrength Fijian side the week before the Wallabies take on what looks like a very good, certainly hungry England team.

It would be great to see Burgess play to his potential. He's always been a busy little thing around the base and when he backs himself he's can do some damage. His box kicking has improved under Deans' tutelage and he is brave in defence. Even if he does get away with dumb stuff against Fiji, the Poms will slay him. Not only will they attack him like rabid dogs, but the English backrowers will gleefully impale Cooper.

However, first things first. The Fiji challenge is scary enough. Despite not having a bunch of their Europe based stars, the Pacific islanders will be angling to unsettle the Wallabies, who no doubt will put dropped ball and unforced errors down to ‘rustiness' or lack of combination (err, not an excuse with a season of Super 14 behind the players and eight Brumbies in the squad).

Fortunately, it's inevitable that at some stage Fiji will lose their 15-a-side rugby minds and start playing sevens, ensuring gaps will appear for the Wallabies to exploit. But if the visitors can stave off the temptation to play their national sport for a good portion of the match and concentrate on skewering the opposition rather than dazzling the crowd, they might make a mess of a few Wallaby careers.

Certainly they have the fire power to upset the Australians in attack. I mean, why pick just two wingers when you've got 10? And the very best of them, Rupeni Caucaunibuca will be lining up at outside centre.

No kidding, Rob Horne is a fine player and may become a great Australian player, but if Caucaunibuca is even a shadow of his former self, the New South Welshman should be afraid, very afraid.

A few years ago, Caucau, now 30, was scintillatingly fast and an incredibly intuitive attacker who must have been amongst the world's best running players and that was at a time when quite possibly he was stoned - well, more accurately, he got collared, testing positive to cannabis.

In exile in France, he's continued to mince defences. Whether he can still do that at the highest level will be intriguing, particularly as he is angling for a contract with an Australian Super franchise.

Kurtley Beale is another naughty boy looking to shine in Canberra. With an assault case and court date hanging over his head, the in-form fullback would do well to make the most of this chance, though much will depend on whether this Australian side fully embraces the Cooper-inspired attacking philosophy that made Queensland the Aussie pin-up side this season.