Matt Toomua hopeful Kurtley Beale will stay in Australia despite being Wallabies rivals

MATT Toomua has pleaded with Kurtley Beale to remain in Australian rugby despite looming as the biggest beneficiary of his potential departure.

Wallabies training at Scotch College Hawthorn, (R) Matt Toomua and (R) Kurtley Beale at training. June 12th 2014. Picture : Colleen Petch

MATT Toomua has pleaded with Kurtley Beale to remain in Australian rugby despite looming as the biggest beneficiary of his potential departure.

Beale is contemplating walking away from the Wallabies after failing to win a starting position in the recent three-Test series against France.

Toomua started all three games in the No.12 jersey, where Beale plays for NSW, effectively keeping him on the Wallabies bench.

With Beale performing outstandingly well in recent weeks and applying more pressure on Toomua’s position, it would seem logical that Toomua would be happy for Beale to depart this year.

“No, I want the best players in Australia,” Toomua told the Daily Telegraph.

“As much as I am a player for the Wallabies, I definitely see myself as a supporter and fan of the Wallabies too, and I would like to see him stay here.

“Kurtley is one the best players going around, he is the cream of the crop in terms of Australian rugby players.

“I dare say he might be playing out of position [at NSW, Beale can also play five-eighth and fullback], but if it means he takes the wood over then so be it, I want him to stay.”

The comments further reinforce Toomua’s value to the Wallabies as an ultimate team player.

While he plays at five-eighth for the Brumbies, Toomua has excelled at inside centre in his international career under Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie, who prefers to use Beale as an X-factor attacking weapon off the bench.

Toomua is also enjoying a sterling Super Rugby season, highlighted by his hat-trick performance against the Western Force last weekend.

He lines up against the world’s best five-eighth in Aaron Cruden when the Brumbies host the Chiefs in the elimination final in Canberra this Saturday night, and had a veiled warning for the All Black star.

“I like defence, early on in your career you can get quite hesitant in defence, because you have respect for your opponent and at times can be fearful,” Tommua said.

“As you get on, you don’t lose the respect, but you’re not fearful anymore.

“[Coach] Stephen Larkham told me that when he was playing, he considered defence as a great indication of how he would perform in a game.

“When you defend well early, you tend to perform better in attack.

“When you get confrontational in defence, that filters though to your attack, you flatten up and get closer to the opposition defence.

“You don’t mind getting flatter and closer to the opposition defence because you’ve already had that physical involvement, and you create more opportunities playing flat.

“So I will be looking to get physical early in defence and make a couple of tackles.”

Toomua knows Cruden well, having first played him in the under-20s Junior World Cup semi-final in Japan in 2009, which New Zealand won 31-17.

“He is probably one of the classiest 10s I’ve played against,” Toomua said.

“I’ve played him a number of times, and he has got the wood over me in most of them.

“I love playing against him.

“The way I play suits 12 a little bit more, whereas he is a natural 10.

“His strengths are well and truly what would be considered as key attributes for a five-eighth, and mine are a bit of a crossover, which is why I move between the two positions.

“Every time I come up against Dan Carter, Quade Cooper, Aaron Cruden, I do get very excited because I’m testing myself against the best 10s in the world.”

The Brumbies lost to the Chiefs in last year’s grand final and will use that to spur on a revenge mission.

“It goes without saying that we want a little bit back, that loss last year hurt,” Toomua said.

“We were lucky enough to beat them earlier this season but it will be a motivating factor.”

Just a fortnight ago, it appeared the Brumbies may miss out on the finals after losing to the Cheetahs, Bulls and Waratahs within four games.

“The last 20 minutes of a lot of games, we haven’t been as good as we were last year, but that has come from the way we’ve tried to play,” Toomua said.

“We copped a lot of flak for how we played last year, some of it justified, and we have worked on our attacking game.

“A couple of weeks ago it looked a bit grim but I think we’ve got a lot of potential.”

Originally published as Matt Toomua hopeful Kurtley Beale will stay in Australia despite being Wallabies rivals