The case for selecting Matt Toomua as the Wallabies' flyhalf

The choice of player to wear the number 10 jersey for the Wallabies during the 2019 international rugby season is probably the most discussed and controversial on-field issue in Australian rugby today.

It is being characterised as a battle between the usurper Bernard Foley who has had a firm grasp on the jersey since 2015, and the usurped Quade Cooper who was the first pick when not injured for the five years prior to that.

Foley is an incredibly competitive player with a blinding running game and a laser boot for goal kicking when he is at his best, but he has been out of form this season. His goal kicking in particular has suffered for it, being down to 70 per cent.

That wouldn’t be so much of a problem given that there are other kicking options available to the Wallabies, but Foley also lacks the attacking vision, sharp passing ability and long, accurate boot that is considered necessary for a genuinely competitive international flyhalf. So, with his greatest strength of his goal kicking evaporating, so do the reasons to select him. He is also not a great tackler who needs to be hidden on the wing or at fullback in defence.

Cooper, who has clearly worked incredibly hard at the Rebels to improve the faults in his game, has the full suite of attacking skills necessary for an international flyhalf, a great kicking game and outstanding attacking vision. He is also in great form as a goal kicker at 79 per cent this season.

However, in recent Rebels losses, he has shown that his career-long tendency to fold under pressure and make multiple, game losing mistakes is still a problem. Finally, despite having improved his defence, Cooper still isn’t a great tackler and defends on the wing or fullback like Foley does.

Clearly, neither of these players has made a case to be selected as the Wallaby 10 and therefore the selectors should be looking for a third option. That brings us to Matt Toomua. The views in this article are the result of a review of the four Tests where Toomua started at flyhalf, as well as a number of his games with the Brumbies and more recently with his English club, Leicester.

Toomua was flyhalf for most of his youth and early professional career who found his way into a regular starting jersey at inside centre with the Wallabies from 2013. He had an outstanding season at the Brumbies flyhalf that year, absolutely dominating opponents in a number of games.

Toomua was able to do so because he possesses the full suite of attacking skills including a bullet-like pass in both directions, evasive footwork, a full suite of kicks and is quick off the mark to run through a gap. He also has excellent vision, judgement and communication skills which allow him to use his attacking skills to great effect.

It would be safe to say that Toomua’s skills are broadly equivalent to Cooper’s, but that he is more conservative about employing them.

He also does not appear to be unduly affected by pressure in big matches. That is not to say that he does not make mistakes, in each of the Test matches he has played at ten he has made a few, but when he does he quickly moves on and does not allow the error to compound.

Toomua has previously not been considered to be a world-class goal kicker, but has worked hard on the skill and kicked at a respectable 75 per cent during last year’s Test match against England.

However, Toomua’s unique advantages over Foley and Cooper are his relatively stocky frame for a flyhalf and his fearlessness. He combines these to great effect when necessary at the attacking breakdown, getting his body height low and driving much bigger opponents off the ball when his forwards have yet to get there in numbers.

This ability to help the team maintain possession would surely be considered invaluable to a coach like Michael Cheika, who wants his team to play ball in hand as much as possible.

When options dry up while he is attacking, Toomua also has no fear of plowing straight into the opposition line to create space, with the power of his run ensuring a secure and quick recycle. He has used the same technique to burrow over the try line and score on occasions.

Finally, Toomua’s physicality means that he is an excellent tackler who invariably makes a lot of tackles each game, can force a turnover with a big hit and who can defend in his position. This means that the Wallabies’ defence can be simplified when he plays, with no changes of position needed, and that he is a very valuable player if the game bogs down into a slugfest.

Unfortunately, Toomua has only had four opportunities to start as flyhalf at the international level. He played 10 for the Wallabies for the first two games that Ewan McKenzie coached in 2013, both against the All Blacks, before being dropped for Cooper. Toomua didn’t play badly in these games and demonstrably improved during the second match.

It is a shame that McKenzie did not give Toomua more of a chance as there is every likelihood that Toomua would have continued to improve against the less challenging opponents, who followed his trial by fire against the greatest rugby team ever assembled.

(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

More recently Toomua started against Italy and England in late 2018. The Wallabies won the Test against Italy but lost by 37-18 against England, but again Toomua had a good game.

Toomua’s attacking skills were evident on a number of occasions during the England game, but unfortunately the rest of the team wasn’t good enough to convert breaks he created into points.

One example is 15.35 into the game, where Toomua made an excellent cut out pass to Samu Kerevi, sending him up the sideline to pass to Dane Haylett-Petty. Haylett-Petty promptly had the ball stolen due to inadequate support from the Wallaby forwards.

At 17.40 Toomua ran hard at the line and offloads to Jack Maddocks, who offloaded to Jack Dempsey. Dempsey runs hard but again the ball was pinched by the English.

At 26.30, Toomua straightened the attack and send a bullet left to right pass to Haylett-Petty, who promptly made a forward pass to Kerevi and was subsequently disallowed a try when Kerevi passed it back to him.

The 21 potential points from breaks could have taken the Wallabies to 39 points – a winning score. These examples demonstrate that Toomua can create opportunities against top teams, he just needs the rest of the team to play their part to finish.

In the lead up to the 2015 Rugby World Cup, Cheika used the Rugby Championship as selection contest between Foley and Cooper, with each playing two games before Foley was eventually selected as the starting Wallabies flyhalf for the World Cup. Four years on all three options are senior players who are clearly as skilled and motivated as they ever will be.

The new Wallabies selection panel will also remove the need for Cheika to “give everybody a go” to manage his relationship with his players. As such, a selection contest seems pointless in the new context and whoever is going to play at 10 for the Wallabies will need as much time as possible in the 10 jersey.

Therefore the best approach for the selectors for the Wallabies flyhalf this year would seem to be “pick and stick” based on the known capabilities of each player. With his comprehensive skills, his physicality in attack and defence, his calm demeanour and communication skills, surely Matt Toomua is the player for the job.