Ex-Wallaby Matt Giteau urges for 'pick and stick' strategy with Wallabies' No.10

Matt Giteau has questioned Ben Donaldson’s fall from Wallabies grace and urged decision-makers to pick a No.10 and stick until the World Cup.

The Wallabies have cycled through No.10’s under Joe Schmidt, who will coach three more Tests this year before Les Kiss takes the reins leading into the 2027 home showpiece.

Western Force talent Donaldson, now 27, played four times under Eddie Jones in a forgettable 2023 World Cup campaign and has 19 caps.

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Injury forced him out of the Test squad in the two-Test tour of South Africa and he never returned, with Tane Edmed, James O’Connor and Carter Gordon all preferred.

Noah Lolesio began the year in the box seat before injury, then Tom Lynagh wore the No.10 in all three British and Irish Lions Tests.

In a packed, 15-Test calendar year Donaldson never won a start.

Lynagh has played less than a half of Super Rugby Pacific this season due to injuries and illness while Gordon has also battled injury at the Reds and Declan Meredith has kept Edmed out of the Brumbies’ starting side.

Lolesio is now playing second division in Japan while O’Connor, selected while at the Crusaders last season, is now 35 and playing for Leicester in England.

“He didn’t do anything wrong,” Giteau told reporters at Christchurch’s Super Round of Donaldson’s Test plight.

“And he’s really taken the reins at the Force … every time that they play well or win, it’s off the back of Dono being outstanding.”

Donaldson, second in player-of-the-year standings when voting went behind closed doors last week, put on a playmaking clinic in front of Kiss when the Force beat the Queensland Reds in Brisbane earlier this month.

“It’s healthy to have so many choices and so many great players, but we’ve got to pick who we think, or who Les thinks, will suit his style the most,” Giteau said.

“And then we stick with them and then we back them through to the World Cup.

“If I was playing at the moment and Les came to me and said, ‘I feel like you’re the best guy to suit it’. If I had time, where I feel like I can actually make a difference, talk to the team like it’s my team, it’s the best way to have ownership.”

The Force were the only team not to feature at the sold-out Super Round at One NZ Stadium, where the other three Australian sides were undone by New Zealand opposition.

But Donaldson will have an opportunity to make his case in Sydney this Saturday against his former team when the Force, featuring NRL recruit Zac Lomax, take on the NSW Waratahs.

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii is expected to return for the fixture from a hamstring injury for the hosts.

Former Wallabies winger Drew Mitchell said Lomax, who scored in his starting debut in a win over the Crusaders last week, had taken to rugby as fluently as any code-hopper before him.

“He’s just dominant up in the air,” Mitchell said.

“And not just taking the ball, but having the presence of mind offload mid-action, brings a different element and second wave to the game.

“And he’s just going to get more and more comfortable.”

Estimating there is at least one wing position up for grabs at Test level, Mitchell thinks Lomax will feature heavily in discussions but that conversation around Suaalii’s best position was overblown.

“It doesn’t really matter what (number) he has got on his back,” Mitchell said.

“I think if you’ve got a creative sort of attacking coach, you can put him in different positions, in terms of alignment off a set piece, in different parts of the field, where you’re going to get the most out of him.”