Milestone caps off stellar career Langman on brink of record appearance
‘‘She’s sort of becoming like a fine wine.’’ Foley recalled, Toomua benched, Beale shifted ‘‘She’s somebody that has your back or you want to take to war.’’
Bernard Foley has regained his No 10 spot for the Wallabies after coach Michael Cheika made the tough call to bench Matt Toomua, despite his being one of Australia’s most consistent performers during the Rugby Championship.
Earlier in the week it was clear Cheika had shelved the experiment of Kurtley Beale at No 10 by moving him to inside-centre for tomorrow’s match against Argentina.
Cheika was weighing up whether to keep Toomua in the starting team or promote Foley from the bench, where he has been for the past three tests.
After making Foley work for his position again, Cheika will reinstate the 63-test playmaker into his regular five-eighth position for what looms as a critical match against the Pumas in Salta.
While there is no suggestion Beale and Toomua have combined poorly during home-and-away tests against South Africa as well as one against Argentina, clearly it was not enough in Cheika’s mind to keep them together for a fourth straight test.
The decision to relegate Toomua is interesting given he is not eligible to play for the Wallabies in their next match in Japan against New Zealand because of commitments with Leicester. Some would argue there would be no harm giving him one more crack in the starters Noeline Taurua on Laura Langman before he goes away for a match.
Nonetheless, Foley will rejoin his partner in crime in Beale against a Pumas side with a spring in its step after a 23-19 win over the Wallabies less than three weeks ago on the Gold Coast.
Foley and Beale have always been quite interchangeable at 10 and 12 and the same is expected when they combine again for the first time in the starting side since the second Bledisloe Cup fixture in Auckland that Australia ended up losing.
In other team news, Cheika has stuck solid with the same eight forwards that took the field in Port Elizabeth against the Springboks.
Foley’s inclusion and Toomua’s omission are the only two changes in the starters.
On the bench, Tolu Latu is the team’s reserve hooker and takes the place of Brandon Paenga-Amosa, who earned his first Wallabies gig last week since the June series against Ireland.
Latu has been getting solid minutes in the National Rugby Championship and has been highly rated by Cheika since making his debut in 2016. Australia: Casey Kopua on Laura Langman