Wallabies get Bledisloe boost with Matt Toomua headed back to Australian rugby

9. Genia 10. Foley 11. Koroibete 12. Toomua 13. Folau 14. Haylett-Petty 15. Beale

Disagree about relegating arguably our best attacking back (Beale), and putting Banks in at 15? Banks has had a couple of good super rugby games at the Brumbies, but has hardly shown any genuine world-class abilities under the high ball and is certainly far more of a development prospect than one that should be thrown into the cauldron of a Bledisloe Cup match. Agree with your forwards and am excited by Jed Holloway finally showing that he is playing to his potential. Also agree with you regarding English as the most viable option at 13 - although Rona's performance on the weekend showed some attacking flair that may put him in the box seat for the 13 jersey.

Folau's issue at fullback is enthusiasm in tracking and following play, it's like he drifts in and out of a funk. He is a poor defender in space and needs the sideline to limit the options of the attacker. He's good defender if he can get his shoulder into the attacker it's just that his choices in the open often see him take the wrong option. He's not an aggressive tackler nor a competent passer to play in the centres. Tom English and Reece Hodge are both better options at 13.

The Wallabies need Toomua more than Toomua needs the Wallabies, so Cheika don't balls it up again. Toomua is a class player. The Wallabies have used Foley , Beale n Kerevi since his departure n no new talent has been tried or developed . The stocks are thin , use Toomua early in the RC n give him time, he is worth the risk.

Excellent suggestion, I second that!

Hi Baz, I’m only asking for 50 minutes of rage from Holloway after which Hooper comes on. I’m surprised I haven’t been called on benching Hooper - maybe most agree? At 13, I reckon you need a specialist.

Toouma probably is 100 out of 100 for character but I just think he is about 1 second/ 1 yard behind in talent. Theoretically agree with other posts that we should be looking at younger options. Sadly though, when was the last world class ten that came through the system? Probably QC and KB

Folau is no worse a defender at 13 Ryan any of the other options now that Kuridrani is out. His main problem st 15 is that he is always out of position in cover defence, that is not a problem at 13 because the player has less discretion about positioning. Replacing Beale withToomua at 12 would stiffen the defence as well.

Even rest Foley at 10 against the Argies or Bok.

Like the size in the forwards but Cheik will need a 50 meter cattle prod to keep Holloway moving. His last few games have looked a bit more promising. Don't like English ahead of Beale but Toomua will definitely stiffen up the defense in the back line. Apart from that this is a good team.

Lewis, the words “so bad” are yours, not mine. If they were “so bad” I wouldn’t want Beale coming on with 30 to go in combination with Foley. I would just ask you - what is your game plan to beat the ABs? Does it involve defending the midfield and trying to own the gain line? As to the balance of your post, I get it, you don’t rate Foley. I think he’s a better option at 10 than Beale.

Finally a wallabies team with no Waratahs in it. Should keep you Tah haters happy.

Fantastic to see Matt Toomua back, just a pity he isn't heading back to the Brumbies!!

Agree that list added great value to their respective squads. And they they all returned knowing it was highly unlikely they would ever represent NZ again. The Oz players seem to come and go as they please and I don't see how that helps Oz rugby long term. Toomua will just take up a squad position for the next couple of years which could have been used to develop a younger, potentially better player. And if we're honest Toomua was parttime Wallably at best, very few players return from overseas better players. Especially ones who have had injury issues in the past.

Turn it up!! Toomua is only 28.

Sure, but part of that development also involves mixing and learning from seasoned professionals and not just necessarily Test level quality either. Liam Messam, Ben May, Tim Bateman, Mike Delaney, Angus Ta'aovao are all examples off the top of my head of players who have come back into NZ teams after stints overseas and add incredible value to their respective squads, not just from a playing viewpoint. The more, the better and given Toomua is also potentially Test worthy is a great plus.

I'll take that chance, Hodge can kick and we can see how the cards fall without Foley. We won't know how we go without Foley until we try.

Yeah, Lewis, which is why I personally hope for the Wallabies' sake that Toomua and Beale can form a very good partnership together. I think that they seem like good foils for one another on paper. Toomua a top class defender with a good left boot, long pass, good decision-making and ability to straighten the attack, but lacks a bit of pace, x-factor and power when running. Beale one of the top attackers in the world, especially in broken play, electric speed and feet and decent kicking game, but tends to get too lateral at times, sometimes struggles to make good decisions (improved hugely there though), doesn't have a great long pass and poor defender. Toomua might be no better than Foley who I think I undervalue compared to others, but for the sake of the Wallabies I hope he does better than Foley.

Why not Beale at 10 and MT at 12 then, or reverse the roles if you want less pressure on Beale.The trade off is that we may lose defensive accountability with Beale at 12, but IMHO both of them should be starting at 10 and 12 no matter the order in which. I would rather a stronger defender at 12 ( Aka Toomau) and have faith that Beale won't crumble at 10 as he is alot more mature. Times are changing and we need to change with them = Bernard Foley is not the only flyhalf we have.

If the Foley-Beale combo is so bad, then really someone needs to step up to remove Foley as Beale is too valuable in terms of points for the Wallabies in attack. Foley has a habit of having amazing goal kicking stats ("amazing" in the loosest sense) all year in general circumstances, but then has a real bad habit of missing shots at goal in big matches that actually mean something. Think Bledisloe 2 last year as one example and also Ireland second test. He kicked a good one in the World Cup against Scotland and in the Tahs 2014 Super Rugby final, but man he has missed some crucial kicks since and does it far too often. And how many mistakes can he make kicking out of hand and keep having the duty to kick (eg, not finding touch, kicking out on the full in general play etc, not making metres on his penalty touch finders). I wont even go into detail about the final pass in Ireland test 3. Anyway.