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Reports have emerged on Wednesday morning that Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie was poised to give Matt Toomua the starting fly-half position for this weekend’s Bledisloe Cup Test.
News Corp outlets have today published the scoop from Iain Payten that McKenzie is “keen to use the element of surprise” by promoting Toomua ahead of Quade Cooper in the pecking order at the crucial pivot position.
While the popular opinion since McKenzie took over was that Cooper, with 38 Test caps, would be thrown the keys to the car again, there has been careful handling of the situation.
Last week there were reports from Toomua and Foley suggesting a competition for the fly-half position in Wallabies camp was alive and well.
Even if those sentiments hadn’t been interpreted by the public as much more than lip service it seems McKenzie must have been delicately managing an in-house competition for the position or at the very least providing media fodder to soften the public to the decision.
There is obviously a chance the selection won’t materialise but the report was very strong and seems to be filtering through other organisations as legitimate.
At first glance, the probable selection of Toomua, just 23 years old and with no experience at this level, seems like a massive gamble by the new Wallabies overseer. But on closer inspection there are a host of good reasons for giving the young blood a chance.
Firstly is Payten’s reported reason – the element of surprise. It would be naive to think the All Blacks coaching staff and players hadn’t considered the possibility of someone other than Quade Cooper starting this Test you’d think at least a big chunk of their preparation would have focused on the Wallabies shapes with the Reds star in the side.
With this selection, McKenzie will force some minor changes in the All Blacks preparation late in the game. That’s an advantage not often afforded.
The next reason to select Toomua is simply to go with the hot hand.
Toomua has had a very strong Super Rugby campaign, and perhaps more importantly has been involved in the finals and performed admirably there. On the flip-side, Cooper has been good-but-not-great so far this year and hasn’t had a real game since the boring match against the Waratahs – that was a full month ago.
Another strong reason is, ironically, Toomua provides a lot of the same qualities that many people were looking for from James O’Connor as a Test quality fly-half.
The groupthink seems to be that a successful fly-half needs to be more in the mould of a Dan Carter than a Quade Cooper – straightening the attack, good kicking, strong defence and the ability to select the right runner without fuss.
Those were the traits people were hoping to see from O’Connor in the Lions series and some of those traits are seen to be missing from Cooper’s game.
Toomua undoubtedly does all of those things better than O’Connor could. And he does some of them – kicking and tackling most notably – better than Cooper. His passing game isn’t as long as Cooper’s but he creates space for runners in different ways, such as drawing more defenders to his own run first.
All up, if the selection is formalised it shows McKenzie’s strong intent to build for the future and put his own stamp on a Wallabies project aimed at much more than this year’s Rugby Championship.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.