Three very different five-eighths have three more days to persuade new Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie they have what it takes to face the All Blacks.
McKenzie has already made it clear he won’t be going with incumbent James O’Connor for Australia’s first Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship game in Sydney on Saturday week.
While he’s widely expected to reinstate his Queensland Reds playmaker Quade Cooper to the Wallabies No.10 role, McKenzie is yet to show his hand and uncapped five-eighths Matt Toomua and Bernard Foley may be fighting for a bench spot in camp in Sydney this week.
McKenzie will cull the squad to 30 on Friday, with no guarantee all three will make the cut.
Cooper has a big edge in experience over the other two having played 38 Tests, though he’s been out of international rugby for 11 months since falling out of favour with previous coach Robbie Deans.
The quick-stepping Queenslander has the longest passing game of the three pivots, NSW Waratahs pivot Foley likes to take the ball to the line and young Brumbies star Toomua is a playmaking allrounder noted for his punishing defence.
Asked if he intended giving Cooper a run for his money at training this week, a sheepish Toomua chuckled and said: “I don’t know how to answer that, we’ll see.
“It would mean a lot to make the shorter squad.
“There’s obviously three of us there at the moment, fighting for however many positions Ewen chooses, so it’s very exciting having the opportunity to be here now.”
Toomua was confident big match experience accumulated in the Brumbies’ run to the Super Rugby final would stand him in good stead if thrust into the cauldron of a Bledisloe Cup contest.
“I’ve taken a lot from the finals series and it’s good to have these runs under your belt in a sense for confidence going into big games,” he said.
Having been tutored by rugby luminaries Jake White and Stephen Larkham at the Brumbies, Toomua was looking forward to absorbing more knowledge from McKenzie and his team.
“It’s exciting learning new ideas about how the game can and should be played,” Toomua said.
“It’s exciting as a playmaker, because you’re heavily involved in that.
“I’m really looking forward to these next few days in terms of picking the brains of some really smart rugby heads.”
Queensland back rower Jake Schatz expected McKenzie wouldn’t necessarily get Australia playing the same way as the Reds did under his stewardship.
“I’d imagine it would be some form of hybrid form,” Schatz said.
“Test level is probably a little bit different, but certainly a free-flowing game, I think you’ll definitely see it.”